Comment on the Parker Palmer book Let Your Life Speak.

Let Your Life Speak is American academic Parker Palmer's 2000 book on personal vocational guidance drawn from his own experiences.
Though the book is basically non-sectarian, Parker Palmer's concepts and teaching in Let Your Life Speak are drawn from his study of Quaker ideas. He begins with the question "Is the life I am living the same as the life that wants to live in me?" Palmer then proceeds to encourage the reader to identify their inner drive and to, ultimately, embrace a leadership role not only within their community but in the management of themselves. This, Parker says, is something many people resist due to a combination of modesty and cynicism. However, Parker cautions, leadership should be a cooperative process instead of a competitive one.
Let Your Life Speak provides an inspirational pathway to personal occupational development, albeit one which—in its dependence on nebulous criteria such as vision and inner voice—sometimes risks delving too strongly into inspiration at the sacrifice of practical route-charting in personal guidance.

Why was it important to interview an individual with a hearing impairment? What can you learned about a hearing impairment that struggles within the community, and how it contributes to a better understanding of the blind community.

Disability studies would be a good place to turn to consider your questions. Disability studies is the consideration of the multiple facets that go into one’s dis/ability and how society defines us accordingly. Disability studies strongly opposes the belief that an impairment restricts someone. Rather, disability studies views us all as having a spectrum of abilities. For example, someone may be blind but have a heightened sense of smell. In your example, someone may be hard of hearing but have impressive artistic capabilities. Oftentimes, our society medicalizes and singles out those with disabilities. Disability studies pushes back on this instinct and instead argues that it is not disabled individuals who need fixing but rather society as a whole. Within disability studies is Critical Disability Theory (CDT). CDT challenges the idea of ableism. This is the belief that Western society favors and privileges those who are able-bodied. According to CDT, the very framework of our society is built on ableism. It ranges from how grocery stores are designed to how teachers teach in the classroom. CDT views ability as a social construct. In other words, it questions what it means to be abled in the first place. How did these definitions come to be created? If someone can become disabled over time (for example, if a war veteran loses a leg), how can ability be such a fixed category? If society were to categorize itself along different terms, it is likely that those who are currently labeled “disabled” may not be so. In addition, CDT recognizes that disability is culturally contingent. Someone who is identified as disabled in one culture may not be recognized to be so in a different culture.
With all this in mind, it is very important to consider the experiences of those who are hard of hearing and/or Deaf. Because society so often categorizes and labels Deaf individuals, their narratives are rarely centered. Instead, so much time and energy is spent trying to "fix" them. In fact, there is a very oppressive history in relation to Deaf individuals. For a long time in the United States, Deaf children were sent to schools where they were prevented from using sign language and forced to speak verbally. For Deaf children, this does not come naturally and is often highly traumatic. These schools worked to demonize Deaf culture and prevent sign language from being taught. However, Deaf people persisted and have since survived this schooling era. Now Deaf Pride is celebrated. Deaf Pride is a celebration of the uniqueness and culture that has arisen out of a common struggle. There are ASL poetry slams, books, humor, and mannerisms.
It is also important to incorporate the stories of hard of hearing individuals for ethical and legal reasons. A good resource to look at for the legal perspectives is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. The ADA legally prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities to ensure equal rights and opportunities. The ADA is similar to policies protecting against discrimination against race, sex, national origin, age, and religion. Ethically, any individual is entitled to a life of opportunity, respect, independence, and dignity. These are a basic human rights afforded to any individual.
Something you may learn from speaking with the hearing impaired is that not all disabilities are the same, yet there are some similarities in the struggles people face. For example, public settings are rarely created with individuals with disabilities in mind. Consider the crosswalk. If there is no light or visual to accompany the auditory walk signal, it would be difficult for those with hearing impairment to navigate a city safely. Therefore, this design would take away a person’s independence and dignity. This same example also exemplifies how cities are designed for those who are able to walk. Not everyone who crosses a crosswalk does so on two feet. Some do it using wheelchairs and other modes of transportation.
It is hard to say exactly how speaking with a hearing impaired person would help you to better understand the Blind community, as all disabilities differ in their struggle. However, it is likely that the two communities share a kinship in their fight against ablism. Just as the world has not been kind to those who are Deaf, it has certainly been unkind to those who are Blind.
http://www.ldpride.net/deafpride.htm

Why does Curley's wife want to be an actress?

Curley's wife wants to go to Hollywood and be in the movies because she dislikes her life on the ranch. As she says, if she were an actress, she "wouldn't be livin' like this." She confides in Lennie that she doesn't like Curley, saying he's not a nice guy.
Being in the pictures seems, to Curley's wife, to be everything her dull life on the ranch is not. She imagines wearing beautiful clothes and sitting in fine hotels, as well as being interviewed for radio.
Her interest in going into the movies was piqued when she met a man who took her to the Riverside Dance Palace. He said he was from Hollywood and that she was a natural actress. Although his words are all hot air, Curley's wife is too young and ignorant to know that. She doesn't realize how hard it is to break into Hollywood.
Basically, Curley's wife simply wants some sort of out that will allow her to escape from her current situation.

Like just about everyone at the ranch, Curley's wife has dreams of escape. In her case, she wants to make it big in Hollywood. On the face of it, she seems to have at least some of the right credentials for the time, in that she's very attractive. But what really makes her think she could become a successful actress is what happened years before when she lived in Salinas. One day, a traveling show came through town, and one of the performers encouraged Curley's wife to run off with the show when they left. Curley's wife wanted to go, but her mother wouldn't let her. So, she's spent the intervening period brooding over what might have been. As she relates the story, it's clear that the dream is as real and as compelling as ever. Curley's wife is convinced that had she run off to join the traveling show, then she wouldn't have ended up living at the ranch, where she's perpetually mired in boredom and frustration.

How did Hazel react to Cassie's situation in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry?

This is the scene in chapter 5 when T. J., Stacey, and Cassie head off to the grocery store while Big Ma's visiting the offices of Mr. Jamison. Despite being first in line to be served, the storeowner, Mr. Barnett, conspicuously ignores the children and serves some white customers instead.
Tired of waiting around and being treated like a second-class citizen, Cassie starts getting angry and complains loudly to Mr. Barnett's face. As she does so, she hears a voice behind her telling her to shush. When Cassie turns round, she sees a woman called Hazel, who occupied the wagon next to her at the market. Mr. Barnett asks Hazel if Cassie belongs to her, but Hazel steps back from Cassie as if she has a contagious disease, meekly saying, "No, suh." Hazel's deference towards an angry white man stands in stark contrast to Cassie's more forthright, assertive behavior.

Describe the outbreak of the Great War and the distinctive nature of the fighting on the Western Front, and explain why the United States entered the conflict. Describe the major events of the war after US entry, and explain the US contribution to the defeat of the Central Powers. Evaluate Woodrow Wilson’s efforts to promote his plans for a peaceful world order as outlined in his Fourteen Points.

Following the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Bosnian Serb separatist, Austria declared war on Serbia in July 1914. A complex web of both alliances and mounting tensions between the "great powers" of Europe essentially forced the other nations of the continent to take sides. Germany supported Austria, joined slightly later by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire; these countries became the primary members of the "Central Powers" bloc. France, Great Britain, and Russia— supporting Serbia and wary of German ambitions—became the "Entente" or "Allies."
Germany attacked France first, according to the "Von Schlieffen Plan"; the aim was to rapidly sweep through Northern France via Belgium, outflanking the French and capturing Paris before turning most of their forces to face slowly-mobilizing Russia. However, despite initial German success, the French staved off defeat at the Battle of the Marne, assisted by the British Expeditionary Force. The Western Front then became a stalemate marked by widespread trench warfare. The significant defensive advantages of trenches, machine guns, and modern artillery (among other weapons and tactics) meant that offensives were generally futile and marked by massive casualties. The armies' positions in France and Belgium thus changed little for the next three years, despite their unprecedented size and mortality rates at battles such as Verdun (1915), the Somme (1916), and Third Ypres (1917).
The United States under President Wilson originally kept a position of official neutrality. However, the German policy of "unrestricted submarine warfare"—sinking civilian and neutral ships in the Atlantic in an attempt to starve out Britain—galvanized support for the Allies, especially after 128 Americans died aboard the British ocean liner Lusitania in May 1915. Tensions had almost reached a tipping point in early 1917, and when the British intercepted the "Zimmermann Telegram" proposing an alliance between Germany and Mexico, the U.S. entered the war on the side of the Allies.
That proved fortunate for the Allies, as the Russian Revolution of 1917 had forced that country to sue for peace and freed up the German forces on the Eastern Front to bolster the Western. Early 1918 saw a renewed, tactically-innovative German offensive against the exhausted Allies, breaking the deadlock and bringing them close to Paris. However, with the help of American forces and equipment, the Allies held strong and then launched a devastating counterattack with these reinforcements (including newly-developed tanks). Germany, faced with these military setbacks and widespread shortages and disaffection on the home front, entered negotiations with the Allies, having been by far the main player of the Central Powers. The war ended with an armistice on November 11, 1918. It's worth noting that American men and materiel certainly played a significant role in resisting and then pushing back the German forces in 1918, and may well have been the decisive factor leading to the Allied victory, but the number of American casualties and troops engaged was very small in the overall picture of the war.
Even before the conclusion of the war, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was looking towards securing a lasting peace in its aftermath, particularly as a broader justification for the American entry. His "Fourteen Points" of January 1918 were intended as a set of guiding principles for international affairs to ensure such a devastating conflict would never occur again. Such principles included diplomatic transparency and openness, the promotion of free trade, armaments reduction, and the right to autonomy and self-determination for the nations and ethnic groups of Europe. The Points offered specific solutions to several of the many territorial and sovereignty crises of Europe. The fourteenth point notably called for the establishment of an international association of nations to safeguard national and political integrity and rights, which would lead to the League of Nations.
However, the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war in 1919, did not hew nearly as close to the Fourteen Points as Wilson would have liked. The Treaty was particularly punitive of Germany, for example; rather than attempting to foster a lasting peace as the Fourteen Points intended, it stoked resentment in Germany that contributed to the rise of fascism. Additionally, the well-intentioned League of Nations proved too weak to live up to Wilson's mandate—which was not helped by the fact the United States, experiencing a new birth of isolationism, did not join it!

After the German army's initial attempt to capture Paris was thwarted by French and British forces, the war on the Western Front became a bloody stalemate characterized by trench warfare. Despite massive, bloody offensives, neither side was able to move the front more than a few miles. The casualties were shocking, and by the time the United States entered the war in 1917, both sides were exhausted. The United States entered the war, it was argued, to protect its right to trade on the open seas, which was threatened by German submarines that attacked and sank American merchant ships; it also entered the war because Germany had made overtures toward Mexico to conclude a military alliance. The entry of the United States into the war tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. After stopping a German offensive in the spring and summer of 1918, American troops helped drive German forces out of France, and the German army was demoralized and a spent force by the time of the cease-fire and armistice in November of 1918. Woodrow Wilson sought to use the outcome of the war to establish a plan for lasting peace based on the Fourteen Points, a series of principles that emphasized territorial integrity of nations, self-determination for ethnic groups in Europe, and (above all) the League of Nations, an international organization that would promote cooperation and peaceful conflict resolution. Ultimately, only some of Wilson's principles were included in the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war, and isolationists in the US Senate kept the nation out of the League of Nations, a development that severely limited the League's ability to perform its mandate.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history

How does I Am The Messenger portray the message that to find who you are, you must help others? Discuss.

This all becomes clear when Ed opens the folder at the end of the book. It is at this point that he learns that being a messenger was a setup: filling up a church for a priest, befriending a lonely older lady, and buying Christmas lights for a family. All of it was orchestrated by the man with the folder who had visited Ed's town and had noted his pathetically ordinary existence. At the beginning of the book, Ed lives for himself but isn't really living at all. He plays cards with his friends and has no real goals for his life. He is merely existing, taking up space in one little corner of the universe.

Just prior to the bank holdup, I'd been taking stock of my life. Cabdriver—and I'd funked my age at that. (You need to be twenty.) No real career. No respect in the community. Nothing. I'd realized there were people everywhere achieving greatness while I was taking directions from balding businessmen called Derek and being wary of Friday-night drunks who might throw up in my cab or do a runner on me.

In order to find himself, then, he engages with other people who need help. It is through these acts that he determines his own strength, resilience, and resourcefulness. In the end, he becomes the message: Living means existing outside of your own comfort zone and pushing the limits of what you think is possible in order to help other people:

Eventually, I manage to speak again. "Am I real?"
He barely even thinks about it. He doesn't need to. "Look in the folder," he says. "At the end. See it?" In large scrawled letters on the blank side of a cardboard beer coaster, it's written. His answer is written there in black ink. It says, Of course you're real—like any thought or any story. It's real when you're in it."

By interacting with people who need help, Ed learns to be an active participant in his own life.

Who is Mama Day?

Mama Day is the eponymous character from a novel by the author Gloria Naylor, published in 1988. In the story, Mama (real name, Miranda) Day is a descendant of slaves, and she lives on a private island, left to the Day family by their slave master when they were freed in 1823. As suggested by her name, Mama Day is the matriarch on the island. People come to her for advice and help, particularly on matters pertaining to love and sex.
Mama Day is known as an old, wise, respected woman, and also as a woman with mystical healing powers and prophetic abilities. She often visits a place known as "the other place," where she will commune with her ancestors, and draw power from them. Mama Day also uses her knowledge of the forest to make tonics and medicinal teas. One instance in which Mama Day uses her powers is when she helps a younger woman (Bernice Duvall) to get pregnant. She also helps her great-niece, Cocoa, to overcome a voodoo spell that has been cast against her, as well as taking retribution against the woman who cast the spell, in part by calling upon the lightning to strike the house of the culprit, Ruby. Mama Day does not call her powers, as others do, magic. She says that she simply sees what is there in front of her.
Mama day throughout the story is also closely associated with nature, in part because when she was a child she would roam across the island. As mentioned above, she uses the trees on the island to make medicines. She also is fond of her chickens, and reads their body language to determine the weather. The chickens also, rather helpfully, dig up hexes planted by Ruby.
As a child, Mama Day lost her own mother, and was forced, therefore, to look after herself, and others in her family. This is when she acquired the nickname, "Little Mama." Losing her own mother perhaps also helps to explain why she is so protective of Cocoa, who also has no mother in the story. Miranda undoubtedly sees much of herself in Cocoa. Indeed, during the story Cocoa inherits the prophetic abilities of Mama Day, and Mama Day says of Cocoa, "it's more than my blood flows in her and more hands that can lay claim to her than these" (294).