I ain't marching anymore by Phil Ochs-the military history of the United States

I ain’t marching anymore is a song from Phil Ochs. It deals with various important battles and wars of the American history. America has a long and complicated military history; the US had been involved in numerous wars and battles and had had a lot of influences on the course of human event.  Ochs came up during the Vietnam War with this song. It was used in a lot of protests and demonstrations against it. The song is sung from the perspective of a single soldier (which is of course not possible), who claims to have taken place in every of these wars.

“Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans

At the end of the early British war

The young land started growing

The young blood started flowing

But I ain't marchin' anymore”

In the first verse Ochs refers to the Battle of New Orleans (1815), which took place during the British war, also known as the Anglo American war or the war of 1812. The Battle of New Orleans was the last big battle of the Anglo American war. The American defeated the British and in the end of the war, the status quo ante bellum was reintroduced, in other words everything remained like it was before.

“For I've killed my share of Indians

In a thousand different fights

I was there at the Little Big Horn

I heard many men lying I saw many more dying

But I ain't marchin' anymore”

In the second verse Ochs sings about the Native American war/American Indian war/Indian War which lasts from the 16^th until the 19^th century. During that time the subjugation of the indigenous people of America took place. The American settlers fought multiple times against the American indigenous people, one of the thousands battles they went through was the Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876). The Battle of the Little Big Horn represents one of the only victories of the Indian tribes (Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Arapahoe) against the US government.

“For I stole California from the Mexican land

Fought in the bloody Civil War

Yes I even killed my brothers

And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore”

The Mexican War and the Civil War are mentioned in the third verse.
The Mexican war, also known as the American-Mexican war is the conflict between the two countries from 1846-1848. The US wanted to expand their territory and managed to invade several regions of Mexico. They also had a dispute about the, at this stage, independent Texas. Mexico didn’t recognise the independence; the consequence: a battle between Mexico and the US. In the end the US invaded Texas and California.
Furthermore the Civil War place a role in this verse. It took place from 1861 to 1865. It was a conflict between the Confederate States and the United States, triggered by their attitudes towards slavery. The Confederate states were in favour of slavery, the United States considered slavery as degrading.  After the victory of the United States, slavery was abolished.

“For I marched to the battles of the German trench

In a war that was bound to end all wars

Oh I must have killed a million men

And now they want me back again

But I ain't marchin' anymore”

The fourth verse is about the Americans in World War 1. Before 1917 the US was an important supplier for Britain and other Allied powers. In 1918 the US forces fought in large numbers at the Western Front until victory was achieved.

“For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky

Set off the mighty mushroom roar

When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning

That I ain't marchin' anymore”

During the Pacific War, Japan attacked pearl harbour, which resulted in the joining of the US in the Pacific war and consequently also in World War 2. During World War 2 the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Furthermore the US fought against Germany and Italy with the Allies.

“Now the labor leader's screamin'

when they close the missile plants,

United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,

Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason,"

Call it "Love" or call it "Reason,"

But I ain't marchin' any more,

No I ain't marchin' any more”

And last but not least, the Cuba Crises is mentioned. Because of the deployment of missiles of the US in Turkey, the Soviet Union stationed medium range missiles at Cuba; as a result the US threatened to use atomic bombs, if necessary. After 15 terrifying days (1962), they came to an agreement: The US removed the missiles in Turkey and Russia removed the missiles in Cuba.

I am not sure if I have interpreted every song correctly or if the facts about the single wars/battles are totally faultless, but I gave it a try, just to give you an overview about the military history of the US. If you have any further information or suggestions of improvement, please feel free to add them in a comment.

Have a nice Sunday :)

Lassana Bathily gets French nationality

Have you heard the latest news about Lassana Bathily? No? Then just go on reading!
Originally Bathily is Malines, but he is living in France as a refugee since 2006. Since he saved some peoples’ life, by hiding them from the hostage-taker, he is also France’s hero. To honour his courageous act Cazeneuve, Minister for Interior of France will award him with the French nationality next week. What do you think of this gesture? Do you think it is justified? Do you have to save a life in order to get accepted in a country? On the one hand Bathily is, as the newspapers call him, a hero and I want to make clear that in my opinion he deserves the French nationality, but on the other hand the act shows how little effort is put in the process of putting up refugees, when a man has to wait for 7 years and to save a life to become a resident of France.
Think about it and form your own opinion if there is too much hurly burly about it.

Lassana Bathily - The Muslim hero

I think everybody is enlightened about the latest news of the assassinations in Paris. If not I recommend you to watch a news program more often ;)
I am writing about Lassana Bathily today, because due to the culprits of a happening, the heroes often get in the background. Lassana is a hero regarding to the latest occurrences in Paris. He is an employee of the concerning kosher supermaket. When Coulibaly attacked the shop, he was in the cellar, praying. Suddenly several buyers stormed into the cellar to hide from the hostage-taker. Bathily sent them into the refrigerated storage room, switched it off, turned the lights off and closed it. After Coulibaly had sent someone downstairs because he heard noises, Lassana himself and four other victims went up the stairs and promised that there is no one else hiding in the basement. With this courageous deed, he saved the life of a number of people. His acting does not only show us that we should help each other, but also emphasizes the fact that not all Muslims are members of the IS. We should not judge after the religion, but owing to their acts. 

German expressions that you should't translate word by word into English

Actually I wanted to write a blog post about Fernweh today, but I realised that an English expression for Fernweh doesn’t exist. However you can paraphrase it and say: having an ache for distant places or to crave for travel. While searching for a proper translation for Fernweh, I discovered some other German words that cannot be translated into English and found out some interesting and funny facts about them. For instance, we use the phrase Bist du lebensmüde? in German in various situation. Are you tired of living is mostly connected with committing suicide or suicidal tendency. Then there is the Bavarian word Biergarten, an English person would rather refer to an open-air drinking establishment. If he would reach his destination in Bavaria with this glossing-over is doubtful. To conquer one‘s weaker self sounds good, but the Germans are not satisfied with the translation of this expression, so they say den inneren Schweinehund überwinden. Another example for the difference of the two languages is Fremdschämen. Who isn’t used to this common expression? Of course, the English. Originally they didn’t have a verb for it and used empathetic embarrassment, but I think recently the phrase to feel embarrassed for someone is accepted as well.
Of course every language has its own words and phrases, because every language has its own grammar, structure and its own history, I just puzzled by those words and felt the need to share them with you.

Sports in everyday life

Experts advise at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. Who has time for that? Nowadays we are very busy. Everybody is snowed under with work, should cultivate their social contacts, do the housework and should, recording to some crazy bloggers even carry out social work. So where is the time for 30 minutes gym? Guess what, you don’t need to go to the gym to fulfil the experts’ advice. You can split the 30 minutes and get some sport activities into your everyday life. My first advice: always take the stairways. It may only take you some minutes and influences your joints, cholesterol level and oxygen absorption in a positive way. In addition it lowers the mortality risk. Secondly, get your bike out of the cellar. Go everywhere by bike, to your work place, university,..you will be able to kill two birds with one stone- being sporty and environmentally friendly. If you have to rely on public transports, alight some stations earlier and walk! Thirdly, take the hen party outside. Instead of chatting with your friends in a bar, you can go for a walk or jogging. Not to forget, even to mow the lawn counts as physical activity. To come to an end you can see that there are plenty possibilities to keep active even if your timetable doesn’t allow it. 

How to write a good paragraph

Paragraph writing is part and parcel for essay writing. No matter if you choose an expository text type or a persuasive one, a narrative text type or a creative one, good paragraph writing is indispensable. First you have to be clear what exactly you will be writing about then start to brainstorm and note the most important ideas relating to that topic. Now the real writing can begin. The introductory sentence also known as the topic sentence serves to show the main ideas of your paragraph. It should contain each idea or thought that you will be writing about in the main part. Subsequently three supportive sentences follow. Those sentences should include the ideas you wrote down before. It is important that the supportive ideas are connected to each other. To achieve coherency use transition words, for instance first, second, third. And last but not least a concluding sentence can’t miss. It should more or less summarize your paragraph, so it should have the same content like your first sentence, but don’t use the same vocabulary, rewrite it. Good luck for your future paragraph writing, I hope I could give you a helpful insight.

PS: If you have a black out while writing a paragraph, just think of the hamburger ;)

3 reasons why you should have carried out social work at least once in your lifetime

Last year I spent 3 months in Sri Lanka working in a children's home. Therefore I gained a lot of recognition of various kinds of people: teachers, friends, relatives. However I wondered why everybody was telling me what a good job I did, but nobody of these guys ever figured out doing something like this on their own. So I thought of some arguments that could maybe convince you to follow my lead. Number one: We have a good life. We can admit that we have a perfect life. We are healthy. We have a roof over our heads. We never have to hunger. We have people around us, who love us. But sometimes we forget our luck. We take things for granted. We forget that in our eyes normal things can be luxury in the eyes of someone else. People who cannot enjoy what’s normal in your opinion can help your to appreciate “normality” and to stay on the ground. In addition offering a helping hand in an old people’s home or going for a stroll with a handicapped person can also bring a smile to your face -  Life is all about give and take. And last but not least will volunteer work be a positive aspect in your CV. Almost every employee will be enthusiastic about the fact that someone is helpful and cooperative. So instead of rotting in front of the TV, move your body, apply for two hours per month in a counselling, attend in a social project abroad in your holidays, help your granny with the cooking, whatever, just get active ;)
I hope I could encourage some of you.

The joy of having an own flat

About five 4 months ago, I couldn’t wait to move out from my parents´ house and start the cheerful life of a student- no mum who wants me to clean my room regularly, no dad who is worried when I am coming home late and no annoying sister who needs help with her homework. And I have to admit that the first month was great. Living my life to the fullest, including leaving clothes lying around in the living room, partying like there is no morning, skipping lectures, because there was nobody who makes me feel guilty about it, ordering food from restaurants,.. but soon I realised that the flat doesn´t clean itself. In addition I got to know that studying for university isn´t comparable with studying for school, so I was soon snowed under with work. And last but not least I had to accept that the budget of a student is not used to order food, furthermore my cooking skills are miserable and at this stage I really started missing my mum. Having an own flat isn´t always as carefree and relaxing as it seems and that´s why I am just absolutely enjoying the Christmas holidays at home, with delicious food from my mum in harmony with my family.

PS: Don't worry, the kitchen on the photo is not mine ;)

Home is where the mountains are

Although I would say that travelling and exploring other places is my passion, I am always looking forward to coming home to my native town Lienz. Lienz isn´t a special city, it doesn´t have a lot of shops or a various range of free time possibilities, but what makes it so outstanding is that it is surrounded by mountains. You can reach the foot of a mountain in a few minutes and enjoy the hiking trails, slopes, dazzling landscapes.. of the Lienz Dolomites. Drinking tea with rum and eating “Käsespätzle” in a comfortable ski lodge, after having reached the peak of a mountain with cross country skis is my idea of relaxing. There is no better feeling than finally having descended the summit, having a stunning view over valleys and more mountains and being able to forget the everyday stress. The mountains make my hometown to my place of refuge, and that´s why I appreciate coming home to Lienz.  

Child Soldiers

I recently read the book A long way gone about Ishmael Beah, who became an unwilling child soldier during civil war in Sierra Leone. The story is based on a ture story and let me thought about child soldiers in general. I think that this topic is often swept under the map and in generelly we don't know a lot about child soldiers, that's why I've made a little research and want to share the information with you.

A child soldier is considered as any person below the age of 18, who is a member of or attached to government armed forces or any other regular or irregular armed force or armed political group, whether or not an armed conflict exists.

Like other, normal soldiers, child soldiers participate in combat, lay mines, scout, spy, act as decoys and so on. Besides they are often subjected to sexual slavery or other forms of sexual abuse.

At a rough estimate about 300 000 children suffer from wars and violence. Some are victims of the violence; others are forced to participate or have to protect themselves to survive.

Especially in areas where civil war or other conflicts rule the country, children are more likely to join the army, to get the feeling of security. For many children their combat group replaces their families and gives them a little sense of togetherness back.

Some children join the soldiers, because it is their only alternative to extreme poverty, insecurity others are press-ganged, they are manipulated or abducted and forced to serve a combat group.

In some cases children get alcohol or other drugs to reduce their fear of military actions. If they refuse to execute an order, they are punished or killed in front of the others.

Some children are successful by fleeing from the group; others are lucky and are discharged if their work is no longer needed. Afterwards the children take part in programs which help them to demobilize and reintegrate age. It could last for ages till a former child soldier is able to live his normal life again and to reintegrate in society again.

I hoped that with this post, I could make you a little bit more aware of what's going on in other parts of the world. In my opinion it is important to grapple with such topics and maybe try to find a way to make a contribution for a better world.

18 unbelievable ways you can bathe an elephant indoors

First of all, you need to measure the height and the weight of the elephant, then.. Did you really think that I am going to/I am able to advise you how to bathe an elephant indoors? :P Of course I am not. Actually I wanted to give you an insight into my daily life, but I couldn´t think of a catching headline. So I informed myself how to capture the readers’ attention and instead of writing about my daily tasks I want to share my new gained knowledge with you. Besides using interesting adjectives, researches have shown that numbers, for which reason ever, attract the readers and make a headline more impressive. Question words like how, when, or why and trigger words like way, fact, reason,.. grab the readers’ attention as well. Another good way to enhance your headline is to convince your audience with a promise to read through the whole article, text,... You could tell them that you will teach them how to do a specific thing for instance. All in all the following formula is recommended on several websites to create a thrilling headline: Number or Trigger word + Adjective + Keyword + Promise.  And, as you see, it did work out, because if you are reading this, you were definitely captured by my headline. I hope it was worth the effort ;) Bye for now. 

What is AIDS?

Everybody knows the term AIDS. Many people contect it with incurable, third world, no condoms,.. but minority knows what it actually is, how it is transmitted and if there is any development in the succseful treatment of AIDS. If you are interested in it, go on reading.
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, shortened HIV. The HIV virus gradually attacks cells, which are responsible for the endogenous protection of pathogens. The cells are no longer capable of fulfilling their defensive reaction and the body becomes more vulnerable to infections, which it will have difficulty in fighting off. Finally the cells are completely damaged. Although the body starts to produce antibodies against the virus, it is not possible to remove it anymore. The body is able to resist the virus, but only a limited time, then the immune system collapses. At the terminal stage, the disease is called AIDS. In this state the body is exposed to a multitude of pathogens, which doesn´t harm the body normally, while the consequences of an HIV infected defenceless body are serious illnesses and dead.

The first symptoms of HIV, fever, skin rash, swelling of the lymph nodes, seem like a normal flu. They appear within the first weeks after the catching and soon go by, so the illness often stays unrecognised for years. The HIV infection could only be diagnosed by an special HIV test. There is still no cure for HIV or AIDS. The only way to ensure that you avoid AIDS is to be aware of how HIV is transmitted and how to prevent HIV infection.

Antiretroviral treatment can significantly prolong the lives of people living with HIV. Modern combination therapy is highly effective and someone with HIV who is taking treatment could live for the rest of their life without developing AIDS.

HIV is comparatively meant to be harder infectious to other illnesses. The infection is only possible via the body fluids breast milk, blood, semen and vaginal secretions.

Since the first cases of AIDS were identified in 1981, more than 30 million people have died from AIDS.

Katharina-the horse whisperer

Finally I got to know all about Katharina and her passion. The eighteen-year-old has been attending dancing lessons for a while. Although she is really enthusiastic about hip-hop and ballroom, her real passion are her pets. Talking about her two cats, her dog and her horse makes her smile. Katharina has been riding since she was eight years old. Since then she has been crazy about it and once in a year participates in a small tournament. Not only her animals seem to be unique, also Katharina herself is lovely and I appreciated the opportunity to get to know her.

About me and my blog

Hi guys                

My name is Magdalena, I am 20 years old and I am studying "transcultural communication" in Graz. In English class we got the task to set up a Blog. Firstly I was not really delighted about it, but now I think that it might be fun, in particular because we can choose the topics mainly ourselves. I am not sure yet if I will dedicate my blog to a specific topic or if I will just publish whatever comes to my mind. Let me surprise you :) I hope you’ll enjoy it.