Evaluation of What I Have Learned In English 112

Since this is a mandatory class I needed, it was important to find one that worked into my culinary schedule.  With limited availability my best option was a combined History/English class at the JSR Parham Campus.  Being familiar with the area really paid off with the extra 15 minutes of driving to this class would add to my schedule.  At first it was hard to distinguish whether it was going to be an extension of our History 112 class or not, but it finally started to form into a solid English learning environment. 

English 112 is the research portion of the learning environment.  There are tools that I did not get privy to in my refresher English class, or the English 111 class that I gained in this class environment.  The mixed ages and ethnic diversities that comprised this class really forced you to think out of the box.  Communication and being forced with someone you don’t know makes you either work together, or play with your cell phone and pretend you are working together. Working together allows interaction that is a necessary skill of communication and social development.  One of the skills necessary to work on our research assignment; “Ray Puglia”.  This required lots of notes and was hard to keep within the details of the box.  Once we expanded our research, it opened a boatload full of information that assisted dotting the line to some of the missing pieces.  Mr. Puglia’s life was not boring to say the least.  Now I have a full understanding of the Rhetorical Triangle concept.  Not the audience, message, author, or the noise with all the distractions, but the Ethos, Pathos, & Logos.  We have read much about the world that was never known to me before.  Some of I guessed, but had never seen in writing.  Emotions are best left in the closet about sequestered knowledge unless the “wise ones” did not want us to go ballistic on them earlier in our lives.

The research process became easier, especially for our discussion board in history.  It was very useful to read each one to get an understanding from multiple points of view.  You could tell who read and understood the subject, from those that could not grasp the content.   I have learned that it is sometimes best to stop talking and just listen.  The information gathered can sometimes assist with little details.  I now know how to use a team search blog to annotate your work as you go.

For me to use an undrafted non-corrected draft looks sloppy, so I can say I did not turn autocorrect off.  I still have found words that should not be there, but were!  Read, re-read, and read again.  Movement is acceptable, if it still does not fit, remove it or save to a separate document so that the thought is not lost.  There is a reason why we structure thoughts at certain times.  What point are we trying to make?  I still have trouble with different methods of annotating sources, but I am more aware of the process and more eager to correct.  I still need to make my message for the age group, not just the crowd.  There is a difference with depth of understanding that comes with age. 

I am grateful to have known and be associated with these classmates and the professors.  If I had the option to do this class again, I would.

Self evaluation - draft

Evaluation of What I Have Learned In English 112

 

Since this is a mandatory class I needed, it was important to find one that worked into my culinary schedule.  The only one available was a combined History/English class at Parham Campus.  Another 15 minutes driving, but since I was familiar with the area, what did I have to lose.  At first it was hard to distinguish whether or not it was going to be an extension of our history class or not, but it finally started to form into a solid English learning environment. 

Since this class is the research portion of the learning environment, there were tools that I did not get privy to in my refresher English class, or the English 111 class.  The assignment on Ray Puglia was a great research assignment that was hard to keep within the details of the box.  Once we expanded our research, it opened a boatload full of information that assisted dotting the line to some of the missing pieces.  Rays life was not boring.  I have now a full understanding of the Rhetorical Triangle.  Not the audience, message, author, or the noise with all the distractions, but the Ethos, Pathos, & Logos.  We have read much about the world that was never known to me before.  Some of I guessed, but had never saw in writing.  Emotions are best left in the closet about sequestered knowledge unless the “wise ones” did not want us to go ballistic on them earlier in our lives.  I have learned that it is okay to “agree to disagree” than argue over petty issues.  Stop talking and listen.   I now know how to use a team search blog to annotate your work as you go.  I still need to make my message for the age group, not just the crowd.  There is a difference with depth of understanding that come with age.  We never went into details of body communications, but it can say plenty.  I watch my instructors do it, so we can get a feel on what to expect for the day; Or as Sgt. Friday said “Nothing but the facts”.

The research process became easier, especially for our discussion board in history; it was very useful to read each one to get an understanding from multiple points of view.  You could tell who read and understood the subject from those that could not grasp the content.

For me to use an undrafted non-corrected draft looks sloppy, so I can say I did not turn autocorrect off.  It did not tell me that I did not have to go back and review each paragraph.  I still have found words that should not be there, but they were.  Read, re-read, and read again.  Movement is acceptable.  If it still does not fit it, remove it or save to a separate document so that the thought is not lost.  There is a reason why we structure thoughts at certain times.  What point are we trying to make?  I still have trouble with different methods of annotating sources, but am more aware of the process to do it correctly. 

I am grateful to have known and associated with this class and the professors.  If I had to decide again, I would choose to take this class.

 

My Rhetorical Learning Tree

WOW for all of the notes take during this term.  They actually made sense once I put them together.

This Is My Life

The Major Things Surrounding My Life

I was born 31 December 1954 at Camp Lejeune, NC.  Born a Marine Brat!  The only son surrounded by 5 sisters; 3 older, my twin, and 1 younger.  Boy was I ever in trouble.  Cold war is still going on. Dad is home for our births.  I got the brains; she got the looks.  Nothing to really remember except major surgery at age three (1958) (before shatter glass was used in bathrooms).  One fraction close of severing my jugular vein, live went on. Dad was home then and not stationed overseas.  Marines then sent promoted NCOs somewhere for 6-months after promotions.  Dad seemed to be at Okinawa, or some place in the Pacific Ocean.  Next moment in time is in Topeka, Kansas, age 5 (1960), looking at a F5 tornado as mom is pushing us kids into an underground shelter. Do not remember the move, but we moved to Bartow, California and somewhere along the way we spent time in Newton, Iowa and spent time with grandma and aunts on the farm.  Having to wait to the next school year due to age, this time was without dad during those 6-month periods.  Got the measles and the house was dark until we got over that.  We moved to the country on a small ranch in Hinkley, CA (it is now a PG&E waste site. The movie Erin Brockovich is true.  I lived there.  No money for me until I get cancer.).  We raised chickens, pigs, and Herman our bull.  The next major event was playing king on the haystack and being pushed off and breaking my right leg in a green line fracture.  Every one of the kids thought I was playing wolf and just left me there.  I did manage to crawl some distance of maybe 50 feet before giving up.  Older sisters come home and wonder where I am … out by the cow, playing wolf.  Says his leg hurts.  Needless to say, 3 days in traction, 3 months in casts, and having home school during that time.  When I got that cast off, I ran everywhere I went to.  By age 8, sometimes for the 10-miles trips to visit friends, I rode the bike, but other than that, I ran.

 Ran to school, ran home. Ran in front of my school bus as I had been kicked off (I had an attitude) during the morning, beating it to school. I ran in front of the bus going home twice daily.  This really pissed off the driver. If she went faster, I got faster.  By the end of the 6^th grade, I had gotten pretty fast.  Herman decided he wanted to play rough with dad, so he became food for the freezer.  Dad retired from the Marine Corps in 1963 after being told he had to go back to Okinawa for 6 month if he wanted to be a Sergeant Major or become divorced.  Military life has its tolls. Interesting fact, gasoline was .249 per gallon. Vietnam brought death to the local community and also led to the other brothers to go to Canada as a protest. 

Mom had a heart attack and wanted to be near good doctors, so we moved to San Jose, CA.  Stanford Medical Center was her choice of care.  Middle school was 7^th & 8^th grades.  I got hurt messing around with golf clubs, putting around on the grass.  A friend took a full swing and hit me in the head.  Ouch!  Compressed skull fracture!  Hard headed, it did not knock me out, but did make a mess with all the blood.  EMTs could not do much because parents were not home at the time (after school).  One of my sisters drove me to Moffitt Field AFB to the ER.  Don’t remember much about the ambulance ride to El Camino Real Hospital, but I had come close to death again.  Died during recovery, brought back to learn how to avoid contact and live a life again.  There is no bone in this area.  I have a hole in my skull.  No more contact sports allowed.  At least I can look into a mirror and see if I am alive.  Look for a pulse.

November 1963 was a day I remembered very well.  All the students were wondering … who and why someone would want to kill the President.  Things changed in our thinking as we realized we were going to remember this day for the rest of our lives.  Little did we know of the events that would start to shape our lives!

Jumping through time:  Beatles songs, Wolfman Jack, berlin wall built, JFK moon speech, sputnik launched, Johnny Carson and the Tonight Show, Marilyn Monroe dies, Cassius Clay boxing match, GI Joe figures, Sending US troops to Vietnam. Black Panthers Party, Draft Protests, Star Trek TV series, Super Bowl I, 3 astronauts died on the pad,  MLK killed, My Lai massacre, RFK killed, USS Pueblo captured, Zodiac Killer, Manson Murders, Neil Armstrong lands on the moon, Woodstock concert.  This was the 60’s for me.  The era of Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll.  Haught & Ashberry is still the same today as it was in the 60’s.

Spring 1969, I ran the 7K Bay-to-Breakers race in San Francisco, CA placing 498 out of over 10,000. I still have the certificate to prove it.  Saw Wilt Chamberlin at Candlestick Park as I went by. Not hard to see him above the others.  It was not a political statement as it is today with the naked runners.

June 1970, my dad died in a car accident.  We moved to Salinas, CA, overlooking Half Moon Bay.  Mom died in October from a massive heart attack.  The truth was that she said to my next older sister that she could not go on any longer without dad.  Poof! She was gone.  WHAT A YEAR!!! How I pulled my butt out and did not fail all of my high school is a wonder.  Oh yes, I was still running on track and cross country teams.  Got a mile run time of 4:55 and a 2-mile run of 10:34.  Kind of ran out of steam at this point.

Moved in with my older sister in Barstow, CA and completed High School in 3 years, but still went my senior year (1973), just to piss off the Principal.  Attitudes do not necessarily change with time.  Traded track for tennis.  Won the school cup by beating them all.  Retired my T-1000 racket! I sold it 3 years ago to a sports collector; one less thing to collect dust.

 Jumping time again:  Kent State shootings, MASH TV, Mark Spitz wins gold at Olympics, Munich Terrorists attacks at Olympics, Watergate scandal, Paul Getty kidnapped, US troops come home from Vietnam but with crowds wanting to assault them; No welcome party!, Nixon resigns, Patty Hearst kidnapped, Author Ash wins Wimbledon,  learned about germs that will kill e.g. Ebola virus, Elvis dies, Roots mini-series, 1^st Star Wars movie released,  Jonestown massacre, Iran went religious, Mother Teresa gets Peace Prize, Nuclear accident at Three-Mile Island, and the Walkman.  That was my 70’s.

Became a tax payer to support the nation.  Worked at Vons, and Safeway, moved to Utah and worked in the Space Shuttle Industry from 1977-2010.

Time warp:  John Lennon killed, Mount St. Helens erupts and sends ash for miles, Pac Man released, Rubik’s cube,  Ted Turner creates CNN, Regan shot, Princess Diane wedding, AIDS, PC’s, E.T Movie, Cabbage Patch kids require me to spend$$ for them, Star Wars Space Plan (missile defense), Sally Ride becomes 1^st woman in space (cool person, but opinionated), poisonous gas leak in India, New Coke, Space Shuttle Challenger incident (that hurt, because I knew some on board), Chernobyl Nuclear disaster, US bombs Libya, Mir Space Station, Pan Am Flight 103 bombed (saw plane in Chicago two weeks earlier), Berlin wall falls, Exxon Valdez oil spill and China Tiananmen Square massacre. The 80’s for me.

All during these events, I spent more time in the Florida Space Center or Vandenberg AFB, than in Utah.  The security levels changed with the tides of world order. 

Hubble Telescope, Operation Desert Storm, Rodney King issues, internet, World Trade Center bombed, OJ Simpson trial (if the glove fits, convict), Rwandan genocide, sarin gas attack in Tokyo, Oklahoma City bombing, mad cow disease, Unabomber, Princess Diana car accident, US President impeached and acquitted for not knowing what improper sex was, Y2K, Columbine shootings, USS Cole bombed.  I lost my oldest sister to cancer.  The 90’s and 2000’s were not a blink in time.  It changed us as much as the events of WWII changed that generation.

With all of this going, how did we keep on track and not become paranoid is a wild guess.  On some things, we become agitated and up our guards, but things changed when the two airplanes ran into the World Trade Center – twin towers and they implode.  The Terrorists struck our homeland!  Another ran into the Pentagon and still another was stopped with all lives lost onboard.  America was now involved in a long battle that is still being fought today.  The culprits sought after was Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.  Islamic fundamentalists on a jihad (Goes against the principles in the Quran). The warning was issued that there was no place on this Earth to hide.  We got Saddam Hussein (and all of his deck of cards), Bin Laden, and will continue searching for the others.  I have seen my youngest son deployed three times to Iraq, and am glad to have him home.  He had a close call on one deployment, so it is close to the heart when the news reports say more soldiers have died.  We cannot forget the Space Shuttle Columbia re-entry disaster.  Going green was not a good thing to do for this application.  Foam will not stick to a surface that cannot be cleaned properly so it can adhere.  They are still finding small pieces of debris today.

What makes this time different is the speed of communication and the forms we use.  Cell phones are now mini PC’s.  The main media (NBC, CBS, and ABC) have shown their bias and there are now multiple alternative sources to get the real truths.  Their side, our side, and the truth.  That is the truth!

Economic woes we have seen are how fast the world markets can take investments and crash to nothing in a heartbeat.  I know some that have lost millions in the market.  Housing tied to the market and government ties to give everyone the American Dream, whether or not they can afford it later.  We still have not recovered and it may take another ten years to do so. 
 

  Somewhere in there I raised three children and am not living with my youngest son helping him raise his son.  Got retired at 55 years old.  Went back to school.  Culinary was my ambition.  Started in Colorado Springs, CO and now at 58, collecting my pension, I am 9 classes away from completion of the culinary program.  I have been busy with all of the classes, but sometimes overwhelmed with the term papers and plenty of research.  Whether or not I complete the program, I have met interesting individuals, interacted with educators and enjoyed the ride.

The Surrounding Events of Ray Puglia

It would be hard to say what exactly drove Ray to join the Marine Corps.  I am going to take a guess and from what my aunt (Butler) said was that my dad did not want to be drafted, being a senior in high school, so by enlisting early as a marine, he got his choice of branches.  It was a patriotic thing to do.  The war was going on and those at that age knew it was the right thing to do.  The draft was not really as negative during WWII than what we observed during the Vietnam Era.  There were no one going to Canada and other places to avoid the military.  It was a whole different world than what we see now.  Even with a total volunteer military force of today, the attitude back then was to force you to become a team player so that you instinctly knew what to do without hesitation.  Not the case today.  Today it is an economical decision with education assistance as part of the deal.  What is in it for me attitude?  There are some exceptions for today’s youth, but the youth of the 1940-1950’s were true patriots and were willing to die for their country.  They had a negative attitude towards both Germany and Japan.

America was just peachy keen with everyone home from WWI and trying to regroup as families and communities again, now knowing who did make it back and who did not.  They did not want to get involved with another war anytime soon.  Before we knew what was going on, we had gotten ourselves in a pickle and were waiting for the outcome, however it may be.  The outcome was inevitable, but may have been different if we had allowed some leniency with Japan as we had with Germany.  When you freeze financial accounts, someone is going to be upset.  They were and responded in a manner they thought would provide a timed event that gave them the advantage in the Pacific region.  Either way, Japan needed more commodities than what we would have supplied to them.  We were headed down a path we had been a part of the decision making process.  Even if we had discovered the Japanese fleet earlier, we did not have the superior naval advantage with only two aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet.  The Yorktown and Enterprise were not at Hawaii, only by sheer luck or by divine inspiration.  If anyone has been to Pearl Harbor, they will remember seeing the oil seeping out of the USS Arizona, some 50 years later.  It is a sobering experience.  It was just a normal Sunday morning to all there.  The impact of learning that Pearl Harbor had been attacked, unprovoked, and “December 7^th, 1941 … a day that will live in infamy” is what we all learned at an early age.  Propaganda had instilled a negative attitude in soldiers and women that enlisted or were drafted into the armed forces.  City dwellers or farm boys … the message was the same.  Stomp them Nazis! Kill them slant-eyed bastards for what they did!  The whole truth is not learned until a later date when we learn that we had allowed Germany to slowly rebuild its empire and invoked a blockade of commerce and established an oil embargo on Japan as a result of their aggression on China.

The attitudes were the same on all fronts.  Instill attitudes that will keep morale high and promote our best interests.  Japan needed oil and resources in order to survive.  The Allied Powers did not agree with Japan's approach of obtaining these commodities.  (Bentley)  Learning of the brutality and attitudes of the Japanese military actions to both civilian and military captives did not go well with the expected attitudes of our civilized society.  This would incite a riot attitude against the Japanese.  Having learned what atrocities had been committed by the Japanese to the Chinese, the world could say ... Is this any different than the Auschwitz concentration camp of Germany or the Trail of Tears of America?  Russia cannot come out of this unscathed.  It too committed sins against German troops as POWs, especially those leaving Moscow.  Japanese soldiers were instilled to obey the Emperor and become cold hardened killers (Reilly) and considered it a part of their “duty”. To the Japanese soldier, it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor.  Japanese ground troops or air plane pilots had the same attitudes.  The white scarfs with family member names written on them gave the necessary incentive to give all in a glorious death.  Kamikaze pilots they were called. The death charges with bayonets and/or swords.   Death was more honorable than capture.  It was just the opposite for our troops.  We probably suffered more deaths as prisoners of war (POWs) from the conditions presented.  Germany or Japan; they both were merciless captors.  We do not want to start talking about Vietnam POW's and Russia.

Communication during this time was by three sources: 1) Newspapers, 2) Radio and 3) Theaters/Movies.  The newspapers were censored to only allow what the government wanted you to know, the same for the radio, and the movie clips watched before and during intermission of movies. We were fed no more or less than what we are today, except the media today is more bias towards their own agendas than what was allowed in the 1950’s.  Economic woes impacted everyone leading up to WWII.  It took years to recover from the “Depression” and some never did.  With everyone in everyone else’s pocket, most of the whole world was affected by the crash of Wall Street Market.  Japan saw no other choice than to eliminate the naval threat in Pearl Harbor in order to establish a foothold on the commodities it sought (Bentley) . The sinking of the ship RMS Lusitania by Germany did not go well with either Great Britain or America.  People did not know of the cargo it was carrying was to support the war efforts, but there were so many innocent lives lost.  (Bentley) The same effect was recorded after the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia accidents.  Public input is most powerful under the right situations.

Even though some women were forced to go and work, in a lot of cases, it was necessary in order to make ends meet.  It was a golden opportunity for some as it provided a job to them.  We see that more today than then when military deployment takes away finances, especially with the reserves.  There were more women that volunteered, which to me is nothing more than slave labor to support the greater good.  For those that did get paid, the money women made was less than half what a man would have to be paid for the same type of work (some employers really did not want the men to return to the work force).  Women had proven their worth during the wars, but most men DID have a problem with women working. There were many marriages that did not survive post WWII.  Ray did not have a problem with that.  Eva was a Naval Medical Officer and had an education to get there.  His new wife Liz worked also.  My dad saw no problem with my mom working.  The income was about $127.00 every 2-weeks.  I remember making $127.00 every week.  You have to pay the bills.  Military retirement pay is about half of active duty pay.  You have to make ends meet in order to survive.

The Cold War meant that Ray was on alert everyday.  Hard to have a life when you are living day-by-day, not knowing what to expect.  North Korea was supported by the Chinese and Russia, South Korea was supported by the US.  Going to Korea was not the issue ... When was!  NATO was born as was the Warsaw Pact to balance the powers to be.  Asia countered with the SEATO.  This was just a pissing match between stubborn men in power, too afraid of the "what if" scenario played out every day.   Someone ordered something to happen, but when the time to be accounted for the commands, no one had the guts to stand up and be truthful.  When the day came, Ray went in support of the United States to defend South Korean territory from North Korean aggression into the DMZ.  It was the communists against everyone else. The final result was the 38th parallel DMZ as it sits today.  We lost many good men during this time and some Ray knew.  They were with him from the beginning of boot camp and AIT.  Ray retired before the end of the Cold War, but saw the downfall of the Berlin Wall.

 

Works Cited

"Chapter 36." Bentley, Jerry H. / Ziegler, Herbertt F. Traditions & Encounters, 5th Ed. Boston, MA: McGrawHill Learning Solutions, 2011. 835-861.

Butler, Deloris. Interview. 10 April 2013.

Rielly, Kevin. "Worlds of History, Vol II." Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking. Boston/NY: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2010. 969-973.

 

 

Coversheet & Bib for Ray Puglia

J.Seargent Reynolds Community College

My Observations for the Life of Ray Carmine     Puglia

4/6/2013

Edward Lloyd

HIS 112

 

 

This was a research assignment to view and put together bits and pieces from a military trunk belonging to Ray Carmine Puglia, by observing pictures, postcards, newspaper articles and military campaign medallions/ribbons.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

http://1stbattalion24thmarines.com/

The Life of Raymond Carmine Puglia

 

There is not much of a childhood or anything to prove his existence before becoming a member of the Marine Corps, 4^th Marine Division, 1^st Battalion, Company D, 24^th Marines.  How can a man that had fought in some of the most horrific campaigns in the Pacific just sort of disappear off the face of the Earth?  The answer is real easy.  Most men that fought in those campaigns never thought they would make it back home after the first skirmish they engaged.  Most of them just wanted to blend back into society without any fanfare or excitement.  Ray was this type of person. 

Trying to recreate his life or the part we can try to understand was difficult at best.  All we had was a military trunk full of memorabilia and some tidbits of information from our instructor, who was the husband of the granddaughter of Mr. Puglia.  I am going to attempt to do justice to what information I saw and put together a recollection as best as I can. So here it goes.

Raymond C. Puglia was born on 10 May, 1915 with black hair, brown eyes and died in 1985 probably at his home in Jacksonville, or Camp Lejeune Hospital in North Carolina at the age of 70.  He was assigned a Social Security Number of 197-10-8732 from North Carolina.  When Ray entered the Marines, he weighed only 145 pounds.  From pictures of him as a PFC, he did not gain any weight during boot camp.  He did however gain muscles.  The pictures clearly indicated that the physical endurance from boot camp paid off with a lean mean fighting machine.  His service number was 389143. After boot camp, he was either sent to Camp Lejeune, NC or Camp Pendleton, CA for additional training.  He was trained to work with the heavy weapons outfit, specializing with both the M109 water cooled machine gun and 81mm mortars.  Upon completion of his advanced training, he was assigned to the 4^th Marine Division, 1^st Battalion, Company D, 24^th Marines. 

Off to the Pacific he went as most did, by boat.  The picture showed how crowded it was with hammocks strung anywhere they could to get a bunk for everyone.  At least with a hung hammock, you avoided the sea motions while you slept.  There was some silver colored metal toilet paper holders found in the box too.  Apparently, they were used to stash cigars.  Marines can be clever when necessary.

He was an avid Catholic.  He had married twice in his life, to Eva and then Elizabeth.  The first wife was Eva Stabler, born February 18, 1894, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  From the picture of her in her younger days, it definitely could be said that she was a hottie.  She was a very good looking woman.  At first look, this seemed to be an older woman with a very young man … in today’s phrasing … A cougar.  Not the case here! 

We cannot ascertain when they were married, but there was a nine-year gap between the two.  Eva was a nurse in the United States Navy Reserves, an officer.  Most likely Eva met when Ray got wounded and received a Purple Heart. 

 

Eva lived in Jacksonville, NC, so it is probable their encounter started at Camp Lejeune Marine Corp Base Hospital or in Hawaii where most injured servicemen in the campaigns went for treatment and therapy.   Eva was involved in the community and in politics.  She had been a member of the Philadelphia, PA Dog Training Club and the Republican Party.  She loved her terrier dogs.  There were quite a few pictures of her dogs.  They had lots of personal friends and kept in touch with them as indicated from the numerous cards and letters we found. They traveled to many places and had taken photos of each other there.  I am sure that the kimonos found in the box were evidence of the little things Ray wanted Eva to have.   She died on April 17, 1969 at the age of 75 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery among the numerous honored there.

 

Ray then married Elizabeth and they were a couple until her death.  Ray married Elizabeth after her husband, Graham Johnson had died.  Eva had a daughter from that marriage.  Not too much to learn from that companionship, except from a newspaper article announcing a reunion of four women that had been friends during most of their lives and got back together one more time.  Elizabeth was nicknamed as Liz throughout the correspondences we found.   But from guessing from the way that he treated Eva, Ray did not want to live his remaining years alone.  Liz worked as a waitress from the information on a punch card.  I hope that their time together was a good companionship.  One of the pictures we encountered was one showing a young woman in a black playboy type bunny suit showing him smiling at her.  Whether it is a birthday or any other occasion, it would put a smile on me too.  His lasting memory from our teacher was seeing him trying to sneak out of the hospital to smoke a cigar with only one lung remaining.  Ray passed on in 1985.

            He was a proud man, proud to have been part of the Marine Corps and serving his country.  He obtained the rank of E-7 or Sergeant First Class, which is considered as a senior enlisted non-commissioned officer (NCO).  The 24^th Marine Division won 2 presidential citations and had President Truman present the citations to them personally as the pictures indicated. Ray earned the Good Conduct Medal in 1945 (4 stars), American Campaign, Asiatic Pacific Campaign (4 stars), World War II, Korea Conflict (4 stars), and National Defense Medals from serving at Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.  The stars indicate how many campaigns were served within the specific areas.  These places were a real jungle with hot muggy blistering heat, monsoon rains and rugged country worse than anything so far experienced in his life.  After the war, Ray became a cook and supervised the mess hall (kitchen) and on occasion, for special events, more pictures were found to show his involvement there. The one most notable was the 179^th Anniversary of the birth of the Marine Corps in 1954.

 

Evidence & Conclusion Sheets for Ray Puglia

Reflection from the Study of Ray Puglia

Reflection from the study of Ray Carmine Puglia

This was not an easy assignment, but fulfilling to say the least.  The discovery of belongings that were somewhat the same to what exists for my dad brought back childhood memories of no dad around during many years as my dad was shipped to Okinawa when he got rank advancements in the Marines.  Ray experienced a whole lot more hell than did my dad, as shown by the battle ribbons he earned.  Having served 4 tours in both Asiatic Pacific and Korean Conflict deserves a whole lot of respect alive or deceased.  There were a lot of the same items in the box that I can remember my dad coming home with as gifts for mom and us kids.  Where Ray did not have any children everything went towards Eva and then Liz.

            Taking noted is an art that I need to improve on when doing these types of assignments in the future.  It does help with doing the double-sided entry for evidence and conclusion.  It makes it a bit easier when trying to ascertain the conclusions.  Without the notes, we could not have made a complete analysis and come to a conclusion outside of the classroom environment. 

            The early research seemed to be trying to figure whom we were investigating. We still could have done a superb job researching Eva.  Not the same with Liz.

            The problems most students have are that the research sites are subscription based websites.  It costs money to really do hard research work when trying to verify the data.  So all we could research is based upon the primary sources without validating the information.  The primary sources become the only source, unless we use our instructor as a secondary source, which I did. 

            This was a fun and different type of English class assignment.  It causes one to think outside the box and use critical thinking when trying to figure out the answers.  Some things we will never know about Ray Puglia and the things we do have been noted.

            On a personal note, I was talking to my older sister and she agreed that most likely that my dad knew Ray in two ways; 1) as an NCO when he was at Camp Lejeune, 2) from my mom only using fresh block yeast when she baked.  She never used the dried yeast.  The bakery was where she got the yeast.  It is a small world.

Reflections Paper One

Reflections of Paper One

The subject I choose was on Japanese medical knowledge on autopsy. The reason I chose this was the disconnect identified when reading “Sugita Gempaku - A Dutch Anatomy Lesson in Japan” (Reilly pg.743-746).  When I read how that there were different physicians that knew their knowledge of the human body was lacking, but failed to make the changes to correct them, made me wonder why.  Yes there was the closed society and the different social structural classes thing going on, but to know and not act seemed a bit eerie.  I needed to know why no changes had been made after the discovery of such knowledge.

It was not laziness, but an identification of “saving ones face” in a society where personal honor and family honor played such a big role in the daily lives of the Japanese people.  It is not known for how long the disconnects existed before being documented, but it was at least 17 years if the time frame of his father knowing of the disconnect and Sugita starting his official medical education.  If being taught by father-to-son, handing down knowledge a family tradition, where can one start to identify that the knowledge we have is not perfect, but it is the best we have.  I guess it was an honor thing being the shogunate personal physician and not knowing the internal body structure of the human body was an issue. The medical books were from China, and add insult to injury, there was tension between the two.  Being referred to as “barbarians” did not help at all.  This could have a factor in why the delay took so long to be remedied.

I need to make small points to support the subject.  I need to learn how to make it shorter and lighter to get the point across.

The “tweaks” I will make was in the sentence order structure.  Just because the sentence has all of the necessary information, does not mean it will draw a reader into the subject.  It just may be a dry and boring subject matter. When I read the rewrite, it flowed smoothly and sounded better than what I had first written.  A monotone reading will make you sleepy. 

I am sure that “works cited” will always be a danger zone for me.  I try to identify all of my sources and give credit where due, but sometimes thoughts come in where the information might be a convoluted jumble of sources.  Keep it simple.  Identify them all.

Notes from Tara Wilson

Note for Peer Review from Tara Wilson

I have choosen to have an outside peer to review my paper because there are only two in my group that participated in the review cycle.  The third member of our group has not contacted either one of us during the necessary time frame for this assignment.  I have scanned the six (6) pages for viewing.

Assignment Memo

To: Professor Brandon

From: Ed Lloyd

Subject: Paper Assignment Selection

 

Sir: 

I have selected “A Dutch Anatomy Lesson in Japan, by Sugita Gempaka.

The reason I selected this subject was to think why there were the differences of medical views, even from other physicians, when evidenced in print, errors existed.

Thank You

Ed Lloyd

HIS/ENG 112

Final Draft 1st Paper Work Cited

Works Cited

Gempaku, Sugita, and Iwanami Shoten. "The Scientific Revolution: Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Japan, and the Americas, 1600-1800." Worlds of History Since 1400; a Comparative Reader. By David J. Lu. Fourth ed. Vol. Two. Boston, MA: Bedford/St Martins, 2010. 743-46. Print.

 

Ranto Kotohajime (The Beginning of Dutch Studies in the East) in Japan: A Documentary History, ed. David J. Lu (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005), 1:264-66. Koten Bunka Nibon Taikei (Major Complication of Japanese Classics) (Toyoko: Iwanami Shoten, 1969), 95:487-93.

 

Prominent People Of Minato City

Copyright 2008 Minato City

Date Accessed: 24 February 2013

http://www.lib.city.minato.tokyo.jp/yukari/e/man-detail.cgi?id=121

 

Kallie Szczepanski, Asian History Guide. "Asian History." 2005. About.com. 2 March 2013 http://asianhistory.about.com/od/japan/a/feudalfactsJapan.htm

Howell, David L. Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.

 

2013. Tokyo Printing Museum. 12 March 2013< http://www.printing-museum.org/en/collection/looking/04_02.html>.

 

Final Draft 1st Paper

The Reality of the Human Body

What effects can a medical book, even in a different language have on a society? They can be enormous depending on the area of expertise. In this case, it was simple human anatomy. What if it had been on herbal remedies? The Asian culture has, and will continue to make herbal remedies and teas.   Sugita Genpaku (1733-1817) was a Japanese physician fortunate enough to copy of the Dutch anatomy book entitled "Tabulae Anatomicae” in 1771 (Genpaku). Social barriers with a government imposed society closed to Western influences can hamper advancements even when change is necessary.

Born in a mansion belonging to the Kohama Clan in Ushigome Yarai, Edo. Genpaku was a medical scientist and scholar of Western studies  (Prominent People of Minato City).  Genpaku's father (Hosen Sugita) was the clan doctor who studied Dutch medicine, but Genpaku did not take it too seriously until he met Dutch Surgeon Gentetsu Nishi   (Prominent People of Minato City).  At the age of 17, Genpaku started his medical training. Gentetsu Nishi was the private doctor for the shogunate that was living in Nihonenoki in Takanawa. In 1752 at the age of 19-20, he became the clan doctor (Prominent People of Minato City) (Genpaku).

He was not the only learned individual of his profession that thought or knew that the Chinese medical learning information was out of date (Reilly pg. 744).  He had colleagues that thought the same way. Hiraga Gennai (1729-1779) was one to whom he discussed this subject with and recorded their discussion: “As we have learned the Dutch method of scholarly investigation through field work and surveys is truly amazing. If we can directly understand books written by them, we will benefit greatly. However, it is pitiful that there has been no one who has set his mind on working in this field. Can we somehow blaze this trail? It is impossible to do it in Edo. Perhaps it is best to ask translators in Nagasaki to make some translations. If one book can be completely translated, there will be an immeasurable benefit to the country.”(Reilly pg.744) Both had discovered that a language barrier existed (Dutch versus Japanese/Chinese) hampering their ability to learn more about the human anatomy. They both had seen the Dutch anatomy book and had been trying to understand all of the pictorials and written text in Dutch . Discovering this information to be completely or partially different from what they knew had to be mind boggling to say the least.

There had been other occasions where existing Chinese medical books that depicted how the human body was constructed had been proven to be misleading. While studying under Dr. Yamwaki Toyo of Kyoto, Kosugi Genteki had an occasion to witness a post-mortem examination of a body and recorded “what was said by the people of old was false and simply could not be trusted”(Reilly pg.744). Twelve years earlier, in 1759, Dr. Toyo published a book entitled “Zoshi" (On Internal Organs), to which Segita read this book and indicted that he could not wait until he had the opportunity to witness an autopsy (Reilly pg.744). Not all physicians were invited to this occasion. Meaning only a select few had the opportunity to be present for the examination. Sugita had compared both books and wanted to observe first-hand the differences to accurately described the truth  (Reilly pg.744).

Dr. Genpaku wanted to share the information with his colleagues and not horde the information. He knew of one that was very diligent in the pursuit of their medicine. His name was Maeno Ryotaku (1723-1803). Dr. Genpaku was given the opportunity to witness a post-mortem examination on the body of an executed criminal in the town of Senjukostukahara on the next day, so he invited Dr. Genpaku (Reilly pg.744). When they arrived, Dr. Genpaku produced his copy of the same Dutch book Maeno had (Reilly pg.744). The odds that both individuals had the same book, and had brought it with them, clearly indicated both men were in pursuit of medical accuracy to further their knowledge of human anatomy and the correct terms for internal organs, especially to be in the Japanese or Chinese language. Both doctors looked forward to viewing the human organs to compare the Chinese and Dutch medical books. They knew of several description inaccuracies in the Chinese version with the heart (Reilly pg.744).

The individual that performed the examination was an old man of 90 years of age that indicated he had performed several post-mortem examinations (Reilly pg.745). It was evident that he knew that the human body had the same individual organs (other than the difference male to female), but he just referred to them as “this and that organ” (Reilly pg. 745). This gentleman had no aspirations to identify what the body parts were for future applications, nor seemed to care. It was clear which organs were the heart, liver, gall bladder, and stomach, but he had no actual names, nor did he know what others had associated names to many of the other non-named organs (Reilly pg.745).

After completing the examination, Dr. Genpaku “consulted the anatomy chart and clearly identified an arterial tube, a vein, and the suprarenal gland” (Reilly pg. 744). Both physicians had taken the time to make sure that both books they had in their possession had no variances in the charts between the two books, even though they were the same edition. They found that there were none and that was very relevant in regards to whether they were a handwritten or printing press copies. Either way the copies were the same.

They found that the Chinese Book of Medicine (Yi Jing) stated, “The lungs are like the eight petals of the lotus flower, with three petals hanging in front, three in back, and two petals forming like two ears and that the liver has three petals to the left and four petals to the right” (Reilly pg. 745). It was quite apparent that the Chinese version of medical anatomy knowledge was very colorful in language, but lacking in accuracy. They both had observed that this was not the case at all and stated, “There were no such divisions, and the positions and shapes of intestines, and gastric organs were all different from those taught by the old theories” (Reilly pg.745).

With further investigation, Dr. Genpaku discovered that the official physicians present during the autopsy, Dr. Okada Yosen and Dr. Fujimoto Rissen had both witnessed dissections seven or eight times. They themselves were both perplexed and could not resolve their doubts when it came to the reality witnessing first hand versus literature contained in the book.  They did write what they thought was strange during each of their previous observations (Reilly pg.746). Such a large disconnect between the reality of as-seen versus the taught medical information was disturbing. It was not a matter of anatomy, rather a question of who was going to be the one that wants to inform the proper medical officials that their data on human anatomy was incorrect. They had just given it up that there was a human difference between other cultures and the Japanese bodies (Reilly pg.746). The Chinese referred to the Japanese as “barbarians”(Reilly pg.746). They must not have wanted to add injury to insult. Do not step on the wrong toes, for it the honorable thing to do. Professional courtesy to the max! Continuing on with their investigation into the differences between the medical technologies, they went to the execution ground to look at the bones of the previous owners and collected a number of them for further examinations (Reilly pg.746). What they found there was no different than the other anatomy inaccuracies they had discovered previously leaving us to wonder why changes did not get made at an earlier time.

It was nearly impossible to learn about the human internal anatomy as a physician. Japanese structure did not allow physicians to perform any type of dissections on human bodies. Information the physicians had been taught up until this point was now being questioned for its accuracy and validity of the entire profession. Authority to perform autopsies was given to individuals from the eta class. This social class was excluded entirely from the hierarchy. (Szczepanski) (Howell) These were individuals that were an untouchable caste in Japan, being defined by their restriction to certain occupations associated with death, tanning or working with hides, cremating the dead, butchering, meat, and thus, doing autopsies. They could not be physicians (Reilly pg.745).

Upon completing their day of performing the post-mortem examination and collecting bones, the three physicians (Ryotaku, [Nakagawa] Juana (1739-1786) and Genpaku) left together and conversed about their discoveries, thus opening their eyes to a whole new level of understanding. They realized that they had been ignorant of the inaccuracies and realized it was a shame to be of their profession and not known of the difference. They made the comment “As physicians who serve their masters through medicine, we performed our duties in complete ignorance of the true form of the human body. How disgraceful it is”(Reilly pg.745).  Honor in the Asian society is a highly regarded social philosophy and life style. At that time, they collectively realized that a major effort must take place to translate the Dutch book into the Japanese language. They could see that it would take a collective effort to make it happen. Ryotaku did know some Dutch and had been exposed to it enough to be able to make some structure from the word phrases and patterns. Both of them agreed that they would work together to complete the necessary work to translate the Tabulae Anatomicae (Reilly pg.746). Three years later (1774), the Japanese version “Kaitai Shinsho (New Book of Anatomy) was published. This was the first completed translation of a Western medical book (Tokyo Printing Museum). The Japanese society had closed its doors to outside influences during the shogunate era, so the lack of correct medical knowledge is a product of the society, not the social class.

One must ask how a society can elevate individuals to a medical position such as a physician, as they are only taught by a known and entrusted teacher. Teachers are "supposedly" learned in all necessary forms of the medical profession, so they should have known of the deficiencies that existed for some long period of time. Some professions are taught and handed down father to son to keep within your specific social class structure, as was this case. There was a definite breakdown in communication between the physicians and the eta class. When this happens, the society/social class structure has to make whatever changes are necessary to become more knowledgeable and having individuals strong enough to challenge the norm and step on new ground. To be able to create a standard for a Japanese physician that was accurate forthwith was an essential advancement necessary for this profession. It is known that by not keeping within their social occupation class structure, these physicians opened doors of medical knowledge not known to them before this time. It is not recorded, but there had to have been additional opportunities for these medical professionals to witness autopsies to further their challenging efforts. To stay focused with attention to detail, all medical charts were verified and accurately drawn, and named accordingly, resulting in new Japanese words created for body parts not yet named. They changed Japanese medical and social history by finding an honorable solution to their own ignorance, and did so in a closed society.