Vera's Truth

  Paper Moon is one of those movies that definitely took me by surprise. I really didn't think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. I would even admit that I didn't want it to end. This movie is fairly old as compared to this generation's liking, but I thought that it had a wonderful plot. This movie was set during the Great Depression and featured Moses aka Moze, a con artist, and Addie, an intelligent 9-year-old. I think that we can learn a lot from this movie not only about the harsh living conditions of the Great Depression, but also about aspects of truth and deception as it relates to this course. On the internet, the movie is referred to as a “symbol of manufactured truth.” Beginning with the title Paper Moon, which can be seen as a play on words emphasizing illusion and willingness to believe. The movie blurs the line between what's reality and what's fake. This begins with the relationship between Moze and Addie. Throughout the entire movie, the audi...

      A few years ago, during my senior year of high school, everyone on the internet and at school strongly believed that the end of the world was on this set day in October. I remember that day vividly because everyone was uneasy and something felt off. However, per usual, the day went by, and the world never ended. I remember sending my brother a post from twitter that said “I don't mean to brag but this is like the 10th end of the world I survived.” I thought it was absolutely hilarious at the time, but I never actually realized that this has been a common recurring theme since the 1800s.       These memories rushed back when I was doing the prereading for Millenarianism. I don’t think that I have ever heard of this movement through my history classes, but it certainly rang a bell with the kind of phrases that were going around. The most interesting thing to me when reading the New England Historical Society article was the statement “ He spen...

  The Salem Witch Trials are well known, but many do not know the details of these trials and how the hysteria spread. I can be the first to admit that I was one of those many who heard of it throughout middle school or high school, but I can not recollect any specific details. It was interesting to learn about the specific people involved as well as their occupations and how they were seen in the community. It allowed me to study the situation and come up with potential motivations behind the “finger-pointing” and accusations.      Living in this day and age and looking back at the time of the trials, many of us may find the documented accusations incredibly hilarious and not logical. It is upsetting to see that the executions were based on spectral evidence such as dreams and that many were innocent yet were killed just because they were seen as a competition or not liked for a specific action they conducted. It made me realize that if the judges had studied facts,...

 Catfishing, phishing, and deepfakes are all things that we experience daily, often unknowingly. AI and technology have given humans greater access, resources, and abilities to conduct such scams and put us, innocent bystanders, in harm's way. It has taught us to be suspicious of everything. Rather than brainlessly scrolling through social media, we now have to put our “thinking caps” on and be able to differentiate between what news is real and what is fake.       To give an example, just a few days prior to our class on Tuesday, my dad received a call from a well-known collector's office. The woman left a message stating my dad’s name and that a lawsuit has been filed against him. Having listened to the message, it seemed plausible aside from the fact that my dad doesn't owe anyone anything. Although my dad knows he paid all his bills on time, he panicked and came to ask what it was about. I am thankful that I have parents who are experienced enough to differe...