Spending on Halloween

In the United States people have been spending a ton of money on Halloween even though people might not have the money to spend. In 2011, an estimated $6.9 billion will be spent on halloween 18% increase from last year.  It is also estimated that a person will spend $72.31 on Halloween this year. Many people think that Halloween is the holiday that people spend the most money on, but that isn't actually true. The National Retail Federation says that it is behind 5 other very important holidays spending wise.

Homework Question #2

Although unions existed, they did not have as much power as the major industries. There was such a vast population of people needing jobs that if a union went on strike, peoples jobs would just be taken over by someone new. This was also possible because the jobs did not require much skill. Unions were good, but overall could not overtake large corporations.

Nation of Immigrants

     A "Nation of Immigrants" is like a melting pot of many diverse people. America is a nation of immigrants because the people who live in America mostly all have ancestors that have immigrated from another country. The people who left their countries to come to America would have been extremely courageous. They would not know what they were getting into, and they only knew what they had heard about America. The people who came to America had also to be very outgoing and strong willed because when they put their mind to coming, they did even though the voyage was very long. The immigrants were also very adventurous because they were coming to a strange place to start a whole new life. These traits have come to shape America in making people think we are a very courageous and adventurous country, and we always take risks. It has also shaped America's people because we are all so different, and from so many different backgrounds, but yet we all live in the same country. America is truly unique in it's aspect of being a melting pot. 
     I do not feel very connected with my ancestors and I do not feel very aware of them. I wish I could have more connection with them because I would like to know more about them. I am very envious of the people in "Faces of America" who have had their ancestry put in front of them, and I wish I was lucky enough to have the same done for me. I think that because I have seen these episodes, and known how important immigrants were and are I will research my own heritage to see where I come from. 

Faces of America- heritage

Faces Of America is a series where a bunch of famous people learn about their ancestry. Throughout the first two episodes, the backgrounds of Eva Longoria, Elizabeth Alexander, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Louise Erdrich, Malcolm Gladwell, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Queen Noor, Dr. Oz, Meryl Streep, and Kristi Yamaguchi were revealed. The host, Henry Louis Gates Jr., tells each one of them many things that they did not previously know about their heritage, and they all find it very interesting, and very beneficial to know for many reasons.
From watching these films I learned that ancestry can be important not only just so you know who you are descendant from, but also for medical reasons. Dr. Oz said that it is important to know what kind of diseases your ancestors had before the age of 65, so you can prevent them in yourself. I also learned that it is possible to trace ancestry back a very long ways. I think that one could learn many things by watching them including why to research your ancestry, interesting facts about these well known people, and also one can learn to appreciate their ancestry more from watching how other people appreciate their own ancestry.

To look at these episodes click here: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/category/video/