This is somewhat of weird week in English for us considering we won’t even be in class tomorrow. Anyway, our assignment, for basically the whole week, is to read the first act of Macbeth. Then today we talked about the history of England behind Macbeth. Even though I dread going to A.P.U.S.H this year and literally just stare at the clock the whole time, I found today’s class really interesting. Maybe it’s because to me, it wasn’t so much history we talked about, but politics, which I find to be incredibly fascinating. If you think about it, Chicago could be a little England. Now obviously, Rahm Emanuel isn’t going around chopping people’s head off because or they’re not catholic, or I guess in our case Jewish. However, I do think the idea of Henry the VIII wanting a son so badly to be his successor that he made his own religion does very much apply today to politics. You have Lisa Madigan who the Attorney General and her father Mike Madigan in the House of Representatives. Then there is Joe Berrios and his daughter Toni. You have Richard Daley, then Richard M. Daley, our mayor before Rahm. On an even larger scale there’s George Bush and then George W. Bush as president. I guess the point would be that even though Chicago isn’t a monarchy coming from a very politically involved household, I can say it very much is made of political machines and corruption just like England was during the English Renaissance. It also, in it’s own ways, has sons and daughter as successors; and while they won’t behead you if you don’t comply with the machine, they will cut you off and turn on you and I can say that from experience too.
This blog was really great! I love how you related the monarchy in England to politics in Chicago. Although, very different, similar by the many people who have followed their parents in government. Very well written! :)
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Kamila P.
10/16/2014 11:45:03 am
This blog was really interesting as you compared governments as well as time periods. I liked how you used multiple examples of modern "successors" in politics to really emphasize your point. Great job! :)
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Catherine O'Carroll
10/20/2014 12:48:08 pm
I like how you related what we are learning in class to chicago. I agree how politics is all about who you know.
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Lejla Avdic
10/26/2014 06:00:44 am
I like how you related all of it to Chicago! It could help people understand more if it's related to something modern. Good job! :)
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Mia I. Reyes
"And in the end, we were all just humans drunk on the idea thatlove, and only love, could heal our brokenness" -F. Scott Fitzgerald