Week Twenty-Nine

Monday, April 8, 2024 6:49 AM

Monday

Synthesis Essay Review (Rewrite due Friday)

The Great Depression Webquest

Begin active viewing of The Grapes of Wrath

Homework - Webquest due tomorrow.

Tuesday

The Great Depression Through Film and Song

Unwelcome Guest- Woody Guthrie

To the rich man's bright lodges

I ride in this wind

On my good horse, I call you

My shiny black Bess

To the playhouse of fortune

To take the bright silver

And gold you have taken

From somebody else

And as we go riding

In the damp foggy midnight

You snort, my good pony

And you give me your best

For you know and I know

Good horse 'mongst the rich ones

How oftimes we go there

An unwelcome guest

I never took food

From the widows and orphans

And never a hardworking man I oppressed

So take your pace easy

For home soon like lightning

We soon will be riding

My shiny black Bess

No fat rich man's pony

Can ever overtake you

And there's not a rider

From the east to the west

Could hold you a light

In this dark mist and midnight

When the potbellied thieves

Chase the unwelcome guest

I don't know, good horse

As we trot in this dark here

That robbing the rich

Is for worse or for best

They take it by stealing

And lying and gambling

And I take it my way

My shiny Black Bess

I treat horses good

And I'm friendly to strangers

I ride and your running

Makes my guns talk the best

And the rangers and deputies

Are hired by the rich man

To catch me and hang me

My shining black Bess

Yes, they'll catch me napping one day

And they'll kill me

And then I'll be gone

But that won't be my end

For my guns and my saddle

Will always be filled

By unwelcome travelers

And other brave men

And they'll take the money

And spread it out equal

Just like the Bible

And the prophets suggest

But men that go riding

To help these poor workers

The rich will cut down

Like an unwelcome guest

Escapism - The West

“It should not be denied. . . that being footloose has always exhilarated us. it is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led west.”

--Wallace Stegner

“But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before.” - Huckleberry Finn

California - The Land of Milk and Honey

The original expression, "a land flowing with milk and honey", is a reference in the Hebrew Bible to the agricultural abundance of the Land of Israel. The first reference appears in the book of Exodus during Moses' vision of the burning bush.

Do Re Mi
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie

Lots of folks back East, they say, is leavin' home every day,
Beatin' the hot old dusty way to the California line.
'Cross the desert sands they roll, gettin' out of that old dust bowl,
They think they're goin' to a sugar bowl, but here's what they find
Now, the police at the port of entry say,
"You're number fourteen thousand for today."

Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

You want to buy you a home or a farm, that can't deal nobody harm,
Or take your vacation by the mountains or sea.
Don't swap your old cow for a car, you better stay right where you are,
Better take this little tip from me.
'Cause I look through the want ads every day
But the headlines on the papers always say:

If you ain't got the do re mi, boys, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad - Woody Guthrie/Grateful Dead

Goin' down the road feelin' bad.