Courage

"Speaking of Courage" relates to courage in the way that O'Brien speaks about Bowker's interpretation of his courage. In this chapter, Bowker talks about how he almost earned a Silver Star by trying to save Kiowa. However, he fails to actually rescue Kiowa. Bowker deals with the incident by convincing himself that he was as brave as he possibly could be by even trying to save Kiowa.
In this scenario, the courage vs. cowardice line is clearly defined, unlike "On the Rainy River." The courageous choice during the situation would have been try to save Kiowa, and the cowardly choice would have been not trying to save Kiowa at all. However, another line lies in the gray area between the "levels" of courage. Although attempting to save Kiowa was undoubtedly an act of courage, letting go of Kiowa to save himself from sinking deeper is cowardice, which creates the problem of whether the action was courageous, cowardly, or something in between.
Comparing the scenario to "On the Rainy River," where O'Brien seemingly has no courageous choice, "Speaking of Courage" has clearly defined "good" and "bad" choices. In "On the Rainy River," all the choices O'Brien could have possibly made seemed cowardly in nature, but one could argue about how each individual path could also be courageous.
TL:DR - "Speaking of Courage" had courageous and cowardly actions that were easier to see in comparison to the choices that O'Brien had to face in "On the Rainy River."

Memoir

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/readpoem.asp?id=8801&genre=Memoir&Page=4&sortBy=state
I enjoyed this blog out the most out of the 20 or so I looked at. The memoir actually starts out with a paragraph from the future. I'm not sure if you can still call it a memoir, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
I enjoyed the memoir because of the descriptions the writer put into the small details. The description of the dust tornado, "...dust tornado would whirl by in the rocky desert, and I would watch it twirl and twirl until there was nothing left of it but a puff of smoke floating up into the sky." This creates a very vivid image in a reader's head, and "experience" the dust tornado, which is one of the goals of a memoir - to let others read about their experiences. The memoir does lack a real lesson learned. Since the story is based in the future, the lesson he learns is hypothetical, seeing as he's not guaranteed to accomplish anything. However, by writing the hypothetical future in the way he did, it shows that he was inspired by this experience, and eventually wants to build houses for kids.
As a story though, the memoir is okay. He describes his brother as a whining kid, and that's all he describes him as. There's no depth to the kid, just that he whine constantly about everything. The father also is poorly developed, and he shows no real personality. He appears to me as basically a paragon of dads. 

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a war fought between and Northern and Southern Vietnam, with the North being pro-communism and the south being anti-communist. Naturally, the US felt obligated to stop the spread of communism, and decided to provide support to Southern Vietnam. America suffered huge losses (58,000), and the idea that so many lives were lost/ being lost in a war that wasn't really directly related to them led to division among the American people. President Nixon ordered the withdrawal of all American troops in 1973. The communists forces then captured Saigon, marking the end of the Vietnam war. The following year, 1976, the country united as the Socialist Republic of China

http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm

Let America be America Again - Langston Hughes

I do not like this poem. It is way too long. But this isn't the point of the post.

I feel as if Mr. Hughes is describing America as a land devoid of the "American Dream." People who aspire for the American Dream almost never obtain it, and those who do obtain or have it, corrupt it by removing everything about the Dream besides money.
I also feel like Hughes makes a really big point about equality. Besides the one obvious reference to equality he has in the 15th line, he says things like "Where never kings... by one above." and "I am the poor white... crush the weak." These lines point to how America is not much different from monarchies. The poor stay the poor, despite promises of riches and new life. Man still acts as though one is superior to another, as a king does to his subjects.
Another theme of the poem would be hopeless jobs (best title I can think of). From Hughes' writing, I feel as if though he is complaining about the useless, super-grind jobs that people take to live a futile climb to reach their "American Dream." The fact that people are doing useless jobs is ubiquitous (VOCAB WORD) across the U.S.A.
All in all, Mr. Hughes is saying that he wishes America would be the America that everyone dreams of, and not the one that he lives in.

ME AS DAISY. (NUTTIN WEIRD BOUT DAT)

p.119 Daisy-Gatsby

... As Tom continued his pointless bragging about "making a stable," I decided I couldn't take this anymore. "Who wants to go to town?," I asked. All of a sudden, Jay slowly turned his eyes towards me, and our eyes met. "Ah," I said. "You look so cool." We stared each other for a long while, and for a minute I had forgotten where I was, and what I was doing. "You always look so cool." What was I doing? I had just told Jay that I had feelings for him, that I loved him. On top of that, I did it in front of my husband. The man that I had vowed to love no matter what happened.
  Tom was shocked. His expression slowly changed from one that people took for idle chatter to one that shocked the shock and the astonishment that he felt at that moment. His jaw dropped a little, displaying his silent bewilderment. He turned and looked, slowly, between me and Jay. \
  I tried to think on my feet. I really did. But what came out of my mouth next was ill-thought out. "You resemble the advertisement of the man," I said, trying my best to sound as innocent as possible. "You know the advertisement of the man-"
 "All right." Tom cut in abruptly, cutting off my attempt to excuse myself. "I'm perfectly willing to go to town. Come on - we're all going to town." He stood up, with his eyes flashing with dangerous anger. No one dared move.
"Come on!" He said, getting more impatient. You could tell he was getting more agitated by the second, the way his jaw moved slowly, his eyes possessed by the rage overwhelming him. "What's the matter, anyhow? If we're going to town, let's start."...