Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Reid, Joan A. "Rapid Assessment Exploring Impediments to Successful Prosecutions of Sex Traffickers of U.S. Minors." Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 28.1 (2013): 75+.Criminal Justice Collection. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

                        The following article analyses the presence of sex trafficking of minors in the metropolitan areas of Massachusetts, which includes the city of Lowell, Massachusetts. The article evaluates the existence of prostitution within each area and references the decreasing rate of prostitution due to the increased rate of prosecution of child sex traffickers. The article also includes information referencing the psychological factors that contribute to victims testifying and not testifying against the prosecuted sex offenders and child sex traffickers. This article offers a few usable facts in relation to the topic of crime in Lowell, Massachusetts, however the usable information offered is very minimal.  

Goldman, Leah. “25 Most Dangerous Cities in America”. Business Insider Magazine. 23 May, 2011. Web. 24 November 2014.

           

                        Lowell is stated to be the eighteenth most dangerous city in America. With Flint, Michigan as the most dangerous and Elizabeth, New Jersey the twenty-fifth most dangerous, Lowell falls between the top twenty five most dangerous cities in America in relation to the irregularly high crime rate. The Business Insider Magazine calculates the danger per city by taking into account the location of each city, where the crime rates in their surrounding towns may have an effect on the city’s crime rate. The Business Insider Magazine considers the danger within a city in regards to the amount of violent crime that occurs within each city per year. The term violent crime covers the following misconducts: murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.

“About Lowell Crime Rates” Crime Rates in Lowell, Massachusetts. Neighborhood Scouts Search Engine. Web. 24 November 2014.

                        The Neighborhood Scout website offers usable information and analysis on the crime rates in specific areas around the country and also includes the numerical value of each crime in the area for various years. The data calculated is originally from the FBI’s reported crimes in each area. The acts of violence that are taken into account are forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. The property crimes that are taken into account are motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny, and burglary. The numerical value of each crime that is evaluated through this website is determined for every one thousand people. For example, there were a reported eight hundred forty nine burglaries in Lowell annually, that calculates out to be 7.82 burglaries per every one thousand citizens. This website reports the population of Lowell to be approximately 108,539 people. 

The Luna Theatre, The Fighter, and Irish Pride

Savannah Szymanski

Professor Conway

Freshman Honors Seminar

10 November 2014

The Luna Theatre

            The Luna Theatre’s delightful appearance and indie folk motif in addition to their respectable service provided for a pleasurable experience while attending a film there. From the theatre’s décor to their products available for purchasing, the Luna Theater established a unique impression where their style and perceptions seem unmatched by any average corporation owned theatre in the area. The theatre’s decorations all followed a folky interior design similar to a style commonly seen in the mid-western part of the country. The Theatre has various shops lined up leading to the theatre entrance where various goods are being sold, including coffee, pastries, artwork, and even clothes. Though the entire theatre was relatively unfinished when the class trip was taken to the theatre, the facility itself still appeared extremely well thought out and prepared for visitors. The theatre has an interesting bravura and character that all mixed together in order to form an intriguing and pleasurable experience at the Luna Theatre.

            Throughout the class trip to the newly built Luna Theatre, the story of Micky Ward was revealed within the entertaining and unique film The Fighter. The film itself was written by Ward and describes the stat and success of his career. The unexpected rise to fame that Micky Ward stumbles upon within the film displays how an unpopular boxer and an underappreciated man can shift from being an underdog to a well-known fighter with a boxing title. In addition to this film, the excerpt Irish Pride also describes the life of Micky Ward in his quest for a successful boxing career of which he and his family could be proud of. The excerpt is seemingly more of a summary of Micky Ward’s life, while the film provides an insight to Ward’s emotional standpoint and personality throughout the peak of his career.

            Micky Ward was born to an opinionated family and raised in the underprivileged town of Lowell, Massachusetts where he developed his talent for boxing while in the shadow of his brother’s former career. The two brothers, Micky and Dicky, were displayed in the film as not only extremely close, but also extremely unequal in terms of the attention they were given by both the members of their community and the members of their family. Dicky received the majority of the attention rather than Micky and could arguably be seen as the favorite son in the family. In addition to Dicky’s favoritism within their household, his former career as a semi successful boxer attracted the responsiveness from the public eye to the point where Micky’s career was perceived as seemingly obsolete. The intriguing character dynamic established between the two brothers in the film not only provides audiences with the personal background of Micky Ward before his achievements in boxing, but also allows viewers to see the emotional mindset of Micky in a way that is not displayed within the Irish Pride reading.

            Micky Ward’s inspiring story of trading in his life as a mediocre boxer with a relatively unheard of career for a victorious and motivating profession along with a championship title proves to be extremely inspiring to the Lowell community given Ward’s ties to the city. Being a native born Lowell community member, Ward is displayed as an inspiration to those growing up within the city. Micky Ward spent the majority of his training time within Lowell, which means not only did he live in the city, but he also endured the most successful period of his career in the city of Lowell as well. The act of completing his training within the city that raised him further reaffirms the reputation Ward has amongst the community members for rising up and retaining an efficacious career despite the large obstacles that one faces when coming from an underprivileged area. At the time of Micky Ward’s career, Lowell was known for its financially unstable and economically deprived community that was faced with a vast amount of issues, including a lack of jobs throughout the city, which eliminated most possibilities for Lowell to improve their standards. By defying the odds presented to him by living in such an economically detrimental area, Micky Ward serves as a star to many Lowell community members, especially the young wishful thinkers of up and coming generations.   

Townie

Savannah Szymanski

Professor Conway

Freshman Honors Seminar

17 November 2014

Townie

            Within the memoir Townie by Andre Dubus III, Dubus’s life as a teenager is vividly described as he grows up in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Dubus’s life at the start of the memoir is uprooted as his family moves from Iowa City to Haverhill, Massachusetts, which is exhibited as a large shift in settings. As if the move from a Midwest City to an industrial ton along the east coast does not already have enough of an impact on an adolescent’s mindset, Dubus is even more distraught by his parents’ divorce when he was ten years old, shortly after the cross country move. Dubus’s memoir displays the negative emotions that accompany dramatic changes in one’s adolescent life, especially while growing up on the lower economic side of an underprivileged town. The result aggression and emotional troubles that are seen through Dubus’s mindset and actions as a teenager can be traced back to his emotional trauma as a child and inability to properly overcome his obstacles until later in his life.

            Any child troubled with the unfortunate penalties of their parents’ divorce is likely to suffer some sort of emotional distress, however these consequences are further maximized by a split devotion to each parent mixed with conflicted resentment. Dubus’s parents announced their separation and divorce after his father left when he was ten and once their marital problems extended beyond disagreements and arguments when they became conflicts resulting from infidelity. Dubus’s father, whose former military profession is turned to being a professor at this point in the novel, is unfaithful in his marriage to Dubus’s mother which not only ends their marriage together with four children, but also creates a large separation between Dubus and his father. Dubus rarely sees his father throughout his teenage years, resulting in a lack of guidance as he endures the troubles of overcoming the various obstacles in front of him while becoming an adult. Being the oldest son of four children, with his sister Susan being the only sibling older than him, Dubus felt a large drive to remain strong throughout his parents’ divorce in order to help his mother and siblings deal with the massive shift in their lives.

            Dubus and his siblings saw their father only a few times each month and on special occasions, meanwhile they barely saw their mother as she worked all day every day in order to keep their house and her children fed. With only a minimal amount of child support money being supplied by Dubus’s father, Dubus and his family were forced to remain in lowest class part of Haverhill where they struggled to stay afloat. In addition to being financially unstable, Dubus also lived in a drug infested portion of his town that had a massive problem with violence and crime. Growing up in this area without any guidance to raise him and his siblings, Dubus had an extremely rough time fighting through the circumstances he was dealt, where for large periods of time he relied on drug use, violence, and fighting back at the man throughout his teenage years. Dubus’s memoir displays the impacts of a poverty stricken town on the up and coming generation that live within it especially when the youth of these generations face other issues, in Dubus’s case these issues include family and financial troubles mixed with exposure too drugs and violence.

            Despite the emotional conflicts and dysfunctional mindset that accompanies his life growing up in Haverhill, Dubus tells an inspirational tale as he develops his skill of writing in order to reshape his life and overcome the hindrances he faces while moving from a teenager to an adult.  Within the memoir, as Dubus ages he develops a strong motivation to leave his life of teenage crime and former rebellious disposition behind in order to attend the college his father teaches at and improve his education beyond the Haverhill academic system. Dubus quickly learns upon his arrival to his new school that his exposure the world is minimal compared to those around him, however he continues to push through his intellectual and emotional dilemmas in order to improve his education while simultaneously developing a somewhat better relationship with his father. Dubus defies the steadfast obstacles that were presented against him from childhood all the way until he became an adult that seems near to impossible given the circumstances he faces throughout the memoir, therefore proving an inspiration to readers and others who are faced with similar and equally troubling conflicts.