Friendswood Homework
September 11, 2016
Classes 5 & 6 Reading Logs

       1. In classes 5 & 6, we start to see Lee finally standing up to the leaders of her corrupted town. It is natural for the citizens of Friendswood to think that their leaders are not corrupted, until they have experienced their wicked games first hand. Lee, for example, is one of those citizens who see the truth behind the fake smiles and speeches of her mayor, councilman, etc. Lee believes that City Hall is hiding the horrible and malignant conditions of the Banes Field-Rosemont area in order to help "drive down the value of their homes, so the land could be repurchased and sold for an exorbitant price" for a realtor company (Steinke 71). In other words, City Hall is trying to excavate a little more money for the town and have made a secret comradeship with realtors in order to carry out the plan. Due to this, Lee's perception of them, especially of Mayor Wallen, is one of negativity as shown when "she didn't believe in his feigned exhaustion or in his modest blue jackets and khakis. She believed in the black deadness of his eyes" (87). Lee however tries to keep her perception grounded and doesn't burst her depiction of them since she doesn't want more people to think she's crazy as many already do. After the mayor refutes her claim of poison still being present in the land, she simply replies, "'Mayor Wallen, it's right where they buried the container, according to the cleanup plan'" (71). She still shows respect to the Mayor despite her contradictory feelings and instead of angrily accusing them of purposely not finding evidence, she simply explains her reasoning in a calm manner. At the city council meeting, Lee was prepared to disprove the EPA's statements, even though she was uncertain if City Hall would give her time to speak again. She knows that they are not fond of her and belittle her at times, as proven by the act of Mayor Wallen and Councilman Burns telling Lee to basically "shut up and sit down" when she proposed her new research. The councilman even gave a sarcastic comment when he said, "We're very familiar with your work, Ms. Knowles," even though it's clear that they are more bothered than familiar (90). City council meetings are supposed to be a judge-free place for civilians to state their worries and issues in order to improve their home town, but if City Hall keeps on ignoring and mistreating one citizen who has scientific proof of poison in the area, then they are buffoons failing miserably as the so-called protectors of Friendswood.

       2. Lee once again shows moxie as she fights with a representative from the EPA at the city council meeting. The representative, Ms. Dawson, states how the EPA has done numerous thorough testings and how all results have returned inconclusive of chemicals still being located on the land. Lee interrupts to grab the attention of Ms. Dawson in order to show her research that serves as a perpendicular statement to what the EPA claims. Surprisingly, Ms. Dawson doesn't intimidate Lee or tell her to sit back down, but instead responds to Lee asking, "'Can you have that sent to me?'" and gives an educational explanation of how the cancer might be caused by other factors and not the toxins on the land (89). This shows that the EPA is finally listening to Lee and are interested in what she has discovered, or are at least deceiving Lee and acting like they are. She agrees to send her research to Ms. Dawson under one condition, which is if she gives her personal address and not the EPA's. Surprisingly, Ms. Dawson said, "'I will do that'" (91). The fact that Ms. Dawson agrees to give her personal address, knowing that Lee understands that if she sent it to the EPA they probably won't look at it for months, shows her cooperation to get to the bottom of this mess. Ms. Dawson turns the dark image of the EPA around and shows that they are in fact doing their job to help the people living in Rosemont, unless they are just showing that they care so Lee can finally quiet herself before more trouble erupts.