In Class Discussion: Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Today, Asha and Amberly continued to discuss the similarities between Bartholomew and the Oobleck and the Cuban Missile Crisis. They came up with a list of each event which occurs in the book and found its equivalent in the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was the table that resulted:

King becomes angry for the weather: (this is the beginning of the troubles)	Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba, removing the dictator Fulgencio Batista, who had been supported by the U.S. Fidel Castro nationalizes more than 1 billion dollars worth of American property. These actions contributed in making Cuban relations with the U.S. worsen.
King Derwin orders his Royal Magicians to make a new weather: (An act which triggers the disaster)	Castro aligns Cuba with the Soviet Union, becomes an ally of the Soviets
Royal Magicians make the Oobleck: (the creation of the problem)	Missiles are sent by the Soviets to Cuba
The Oobleck arrives: (people become aware of the problem)	The U.S. discovers the offensive missiles on Cuba
Bartholomew tries, unsuccessfully to warn people: (failed attempts to solve problem)	U.S.'s failed attempts to get rid of Fidel Castro (Bay of Pigs, Operation Mongoose) President Kennedy meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko, in attempt to end the crisis, but the minister simply assures Kennedy that there are no offensive missiles on Cuba
Citizens of Didd get stuck in Oobleck: (a "sticky" situation)	People are fearing the (nuclear) war this conflict could create and wish to avoid this fate, but the governments are stubborn, in a stare-down in which they are waiting for the other to blink
King apologizes: (a resolution to the problem is found)	U.S. government agrees to the conditions sent in a letter from Khrushchev, the U.S. will not invade Cuba if the missiles are removed
Oobleck goes away: (problem is finally resolved)	Soviets remove the nuclear missiles

Amberly and Asha also agreed on a few changes to the chart made yesterday:

The Oobleck (sticky, a big problem)	·         the crisis in general ·         the nuclear missiles ·         stubbornness of the leaders
King Derwin (proud, initiates the problem)	·         Fidel Castro (not Nikita Khrushchev)
Bartholomew (tries to solve the problem)	·         American government and U Thant, the mediator between the U.S. and Soviets (Asha did some research and found this site with info about U Thant : http://www.walterdorn.org/pub/8)
Royal Magicians (causes or makes the problem)	·         Nikita Khrushchev (not Fidel Castro)
Citizens of Didd (get "stuck" in the problem)	·         ???? possibly no one...