Please note that the due date for Journal #9 is different than that listed in the syllabus (originally due Mon., Oct. 27).
Read one of the remaining biographies from On the Job, between pages 115-196. Please include in your posting which biography you've read and its page numbers.
Answer the following:
What and/or who is Smith representing here that hasn't shown up in the first half of the book?
Now that you've heard Smith speak about his book, how does that impact the way you read the passage you've selected?
(If you weren't present for Smith's class visit, read your classmates' responses to Journal #8, think about the follow-up conversation we had in class last Wednesday, and talk with your classmates about what you missed.)
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Rick King p. 123-128
Smith is representing someone from the Felony Decoy Unity. Beyond that though, he shows the comical side of the job. In this bio, he mentions briefly some of the bad parts; being shot and stabbed, seeing crime everywhere, but what sticks in the readers mind is the fact that this man dressed as a priest most days for work and that another cop would dress up as Superman to arrest a criminal.
I find myself looking for how this story specifically demonstrates the ripple effect after hearing Smith talk about his intentions for the book. In this particular passage, it seems like he’s stretching to connect this sotry to his theme. He briefly mentions how King doesn’t want to go to parades with his kids and sees crime everywhere, but the focus of the bio is the comical story, which does not relate to this underlying theme.
For this journal I read Send in the Dogs; Officer Bob Rawa (Pg137-142)
This was the first and only section about the K-9 unit of the Chicago Police Department. Of course you can’t hear what the dogs are thinking or have them tell you what happened in a certain situation, but it was cool reading about what these dogs are capable of. I also think that it is interesting to read about what made the cops go from the regular beat to joining the K-9 unit.
Its funny reading this now after meeting Dan Smith. It almost doesn’t even seem like the same person. He’s much smarter and better with his words in person. With this book it seemed that he was trying to take a more authoritative tone than he actually had. I kind of wish this bio had more about things that dog had done.
In Smith's interview with Rick King he goes into more personal detail about the psychological implications of the work that he only touched on before. King's work in the Decoy Unit is described as both challenging and rewarding, but one of the principal drawbacks is the fact that King's work encroached on his personal life in a direct way. when King describes his level of judgment and alertness when off duty with his family, the psychology and alertness of the police officer is illustrated clearly.
After hearing Smith speak I feel as though I have a better feel for how Smith conducted his interview, but I am also disappointed. The lack of depth here is perhaps not the fault of the interviewee. King is merely relating his experience. I feel as though it is Smith's job to comment on King's experience. To highlight the ways in which King's experience is endemic to the realities of the job, specifically with regard to how it changes a person's perceptions of the world at large.
Journal #9
Separate Worlds- Sergeant Beth Russell pages 161-168
This biographical sketch is of a sergeant named Beth Russell and concentrates on her role as a police officer and how it interacts with her role as a mom. She is only the second woman officer to be discussed in the book, after Cindy Pontoriero, and this is the first one which concentrates on an officer being a parent at home. She discusses the different affects it had on her home life, like how seeing all of the crime on the streets caused her to be stricter with her daughters. She also mentions the opposite, how her being a mother affects her job, saying that she once even used her “mom” voice. I thought it was interesting that her daughters were more comfortable with their father being a police officer than their mother as well.
I think the most interesting thing I think about now after hearing of John Smith’s visit is that he only asked three to five questions each time. He got a surprising amount of information from each person for only asking that many questions, which I suppose shows his good interview skills and how comfortable he makes each person feel.
A Black and White Issue:
Sergeant Joe Barnes Jr.
Pages: 175-181
This is the first time in the book that Smith addresses the idea of race and how it affects a police officer in their work. Sergeant Joe Barnes Jr. is a black man who through his whole life has had to face the question of what is “right” and what is “wrong” his whole life. Joe Barnes Jr. comes from a family that had strong “morals” and ideas about what was important in life. It is also important to note that Joe identifies him self as a man and has always wanted to make his father proud. I feel that this is reason why he has such strong morals and a clearly defined picture of him self. I feel with this ability to know himself he is free to have a backbone to what he believes to be “right” and “wrong,” and judges each situation to that backbone.
Smith said in his presentation that he enjoyed the second portion, and I agree I really enjoyed this entry. Also Smith told us in class that this portion was going to be more in-depth into the character of the person he was interviewing. Know these two factors I came to this read with more excitement because this are the types of writings that I enjoy. It dealt with one subject, how one can come to their own understandings of the “rights and wrongs” that are in our world.
I read send in the dogs; officer bob Rawa (pg137-142) . I thought it was fascinating to really think about how influential a k-9 can be for the force. They have a lot of power because they are able to obtain criminals with out killing them, but is extremely effective. I also think its interesting because the book leads you to believe a K-9 cop and a regular cop don't tend to act the same.
I think that Smith is a very emotional person. Some one who struggled with a lot growing up. I think his intentions is to make his writing as real as his feelings. I think that even with all of his feelings it is amazing he can objectively write about such a debatable issue.
Send in the Dogs: Officer Bob Rawa
Pages 137-142
- Smith is now representing an officer from the K-9 unit in the Chicago Police Department which he hadn't done before. The story also felt like it was less of a reflection on an entire career in the department and rather a description of experiences up until the interview with several more years of the job to go. Although, it was interesting to note that Officer Rawa died in 2007 especially because of his emphasis on the fact that he didn't want to be involved in the high energy police work anymore and would rather be safe for his family.
- For the amount of work Smith put into the research and interviewing process, this biography seemed a little bland. Officer Rawa's dialogue seems to be less interesting than I'm sure Smith had hoped it would be from his descriptions of his unique and almost superior interviewing technique. Apparently the section was supposed to be more detailed about the personalities of the officers but I didn't detect much of the officer's personality at all, instead I got a resume of the work his dog had done. But since I wasn't actually there when Daniel P. Smith spoke I could be wrong.
Faith: Detective Mike Cummins
Pgs. 183-190
In this biography Smith is representing a man that was a high school religion class teacher before he joined the Chicago Police Department. Cummins’ story is different than most of the other ones we read because his impactful experience involved rape. He began his police career in 1993 and then in 2000 he began detective. His job was investigating sex crimes. He encountered a crime that involved a woman about to get raped by some man walking down the street. The woman screamed and fought back and witnesses called 911, so the man fled. However the police caught up to him and he was captured. The moral of the story was that in her case the crime was solved and she was able to move on, but others are not so lucky. He talked about how solving cases, before the damage is done, is rewarding and with either case he knows that he did what he could to justify crime. I chose this biography because Smith mentioned how faith intertwined with him writing this book and I wanted to read a part of that. It was interesting reading about how a police officer views faith while at the same time being involved in “evil”. It was also interesting to hear Cummins opinion of how he balances the idea of why is God bringing such evil to the world if he is “all good and mighty”. His overall thoughts on the Chicago Police Department were intriguing to read because he spoke differently about it. He made me feel as though police officers are guardians. That they bring peace where there is chaos the best way they can because they are given the right to do so.
Mike Cummins, 183-190
In keeping with the intended overall theme of the last section, this section focuses on how the story of a Chicago police officer relates to a more universal theme. In this case, the theme is faith. In this section we meet a detective who was once a high school religion teacher. I suppose what we're seeing that is different is the question of how being a police officer effects someone's faith and vice versa. How do they cope with that.
Having heard Smith speak, it actually sort of removes some of the illusion of reading these pieces. That is to say, when you read the quotes and anecdotes it's easier to imagine him interviewing these people and how he may have conducted the interviews, the process and results that he obviously tried to turn into something more dynamic for the sake of the book.
In the biography of Detective John Folino Jr., the main topic was the morals of CPD officers. Even though this is a very prevalent topic in this book, this story was different. Folino commonly herd his father’s words of advice ringing in his ears. This shows that the officers base their decisions on their family morals. This must have been very influential to Smith because if his strong family history in the CPD. He probably felt a connection to that. I’m sure that Smith’s family taught him morals as well that effect him everyday. I expected to see this family influence the entire book and was very surprised that it took until now to see it.
I was not in class the day that Danny Smith came to talk to the class. However, the other students said that he really explained his reasoning behind why he wanted to write the book. He went into detail about how his family impacted this book. I can understand why he chose this story now because his family played a part in the book. Family made an impact on Folino’s morals and I’m sure Smith related to that.
I read the biography about Beth Russel. Smith here was representing a cop who is also a mother. He focused on how she maintained balance between the two identities.
After Smith's visit, reading from this book was a little more clear. He told us his intention for the book, and seeing it in that light, the way he wrote it made more sense. It was also very interesting because in his visit he said so many times how he had a horrible father, but in this chapter it seems like Russel was a pretty decent mother. That contrast interested me.
page 161 Beth Russell.
he mostly discussed the role of the cop family from the mother perspective. beth desrcipes her role as a mother as well as a cop and the difficulties they present.
i thought dan was a smart guy but i found him focusing on his idles to much. thats why i think the book seems so poorly written because hes thinking of how they would say it rather than how he would.
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