Carla Hernandez Digital Journal
29791
"Stinging Dust and Forgotten Lives" 2/12/16
The Dust Bowl is referred to as the "Dirty Thirties" since it took place in the 1930's. The Dust Bowl consisted of a series of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the agriculture and ecology of the U.S. This was all caused due to severe droughts and a failure to apply dry land farming methods, or crop rotation. The dust storms affected the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North/South Dakota, and Colorado. It lasted 10 years and it was the worst. Newspaper companies sold gummed taped to apply to the cracks of doors and windows to avoid dust from entering homes. People had to wear masks to protect from getting dust pneumonia. Many people left to California in search of jobs for the better of their lives. With their luck, they became unfortunate due to the Great Depression. By 1940, about 2.5 million people left the affected Dust Bowl region. The government implied new educational programs for farmers, gave them money and seeds, and even planted trees and grass to renew the land for them. In all, one unfortunate disaster shaped and educated many farmers and people of America's soil.
Of Mice & Men Chapter 3, "Fight Scene" 2/15/16
Towards the end of chapter 3, Curley's wife goes missing. Everyone knows she's a tart so they know that she's fooling around in the bunkhouses. Curley is endlessly looking for her and is raged up. He keeps on bugging and asking Slim if he's seen her, but he hasn't and Curley doesn't seem to understand that. Moreover, Curley and Slim are then arguing, but Candy chimes in. This is where everything gets messy. Curley threatens to fight Slim, but he notices that Lennie has a smile on his face because of an earlier conversation with Candy and George. Curley thinks Lennie finds it funny so he starts to fight him. Lennie gets cut in his eye and all over his face. He took punches without fighting back since he was scared he might ruin things for George and himself. George gives him the heads up to fight Curley so Lennie grabs his fist when he's about to throw him a punch. He holds on to it so tightly that it literally breaks every bone in his hand. George makes Lennie let go and Carlson got the wagon ready to take Curley to the hospital. They tell Curley that he can't mention any of this to the boss or they'll let everyone know how he truly is and what really went down. In the end, he promised to say he hurt his hand with a machine.