Mine and Mind

Many board games are based on some realistic life experiences, some deal with sports, real estate, and even banking. Then manufacturers came along and decided to add the process of politics to the line up of gaming options. The games are fun and educational, they also give you insight into the life styles and campaign strategies of people who are presidents, senators and congressmen. Learning what it takes to run the country and run for offices all over the world.
In one game called,”the Making of the President”, you are brought face to face with two of the most well know figures in American political history. You will meet the enigmatic John F. Kennedy and the controversial Richard M. Nixon,in a champaign that takes you back in time to the 1960 election. Through this political race, gamers meet and become one of the two very different political personalities. In the real life election Kennedy wins the race, but in this game, it is anyone’s game. This game allows you to find out what you will have to go through in order to be the leader of the United States.
In another game called “Die Macher” players are invited to check out the 7 political races that are conducted in Germany. This game requires the player to come up with their own party philosophy, and they must learn about how poll results are tabulated, they are introduced to how the media shapes the influence of any political race. All of these tools are available to make the political candidates, who enjoy playing this fun and exciting game go away with an in-depth understanding of German Politics.
Players of political games will also want to know how the political games work from different countries once they have experienced the process of the United States and Germany. To experience another interesting political environment, players will find the game, “Quo Vadis”, one of the more popular games. The Roman Senate is re-enacted during this game; you and the other players will have a chance to try to get your politicians in the committee’s best positions. It takes 45 minutes to find out which of your friends are the best qualified candidates.
Another political game shows another side of politics. In this game, players learn how to plot coups and assasinate political leaders and hopefuls. The game of “Junta” starts with the election of the “El Presidente” of the Republica of Los Bananas, and then it includes the people who are looking into gettin rid of their leaders and take over the country.
Then if players want to take thier investigations of political board games one step further, they will want to play the board game “Koalition” in this game the players will learn the political process that is not one, but of 12 European countriess. The players then will try to gain power ad political influence in as many places as possible, they will convince the many political parties to join up to form the colitions that this person will need in oder to build up your countries power.
If you are interested in board games and politics, they will find many opportunities available for play, which will include both options. These games help gamers learn the political processes for many different countries, and who knows maybe one day they will become “El Presidente”.

Paul Robeson (1898 – 1976) was one of the most controversial African Americans of his time. He was also one of the most talented people of his time, of any race, something that would be attested to by historians and biographers of all races. Like Barack Obama he was a high profile figure around whom there was considerable controversy and fear. One might even hear those echoes using different words but the same theme as “who is Barack Obama” as recited by Sarah Palin and John McCain in McCarthy hearings about Paul Robeson.Born of a runaway slave, Paul Robenson was a man whose talents and achievements were far ranging. He spoke out against the treatment of the African Americans throughout much of his life. He was an actor, singer, All-American football player, law graduate, orator and writer. Despite the openly racist and violent opposition he faced, Robeson became a twelve letter athlete excelling in baseball, basketball, football, and track.  He was named twice to the All American Football team, received a Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University, and was the valedictorian of the graduating class of that institution in 1919. His brilliant singing voice, a resonant base, made him a high-demand concert singer both in the United States and abroad. He won high recognition for the film Emperor Jones made in 1925 and his stage performances in Porgy and Bess and Othello on the European stage. He also became known for the song “Ol Man River, the theme song of the play, Showboat, which later became a movie musical. Robeson’s spirituals became widely known and appreciated. By the 1930′s he often refused to sing before segregated audiences.

During his travels to Europe, where he lived for 11 years in the late 1920′s to the late 1930′s, Robeson visited Russia. There he won the International Stalin Peace Prize in 1952 during the McCarthy years, which brought him to the attention of the anti-communist committee hearings in the Senate during those years. Although Robeson declared that he was a socialist, as opposed to communist, but he was painted with the brush of the latter. Concert dates were cancelled, and Robeson became vilified to the extent that he was seldom given much press or recognition for later achievements. Robeson’s passport had been taken away from him in 1950 so that he had been unable to leave the country until the Supreme Court ruling on another case like his and his passport restored. By then he had lost his status and his money, became seriously depressed, and tried twice to commit suicide, according to a music historian who wrote about his life.

Robeson’s problems continued unabated. His biography, written in 1958, was not even reviewed by the major journals of the time. After living in Russia and Africa, and continuing his travels in Europe, he returned to the United States in 1963 . By the 1960′s and 1970′s he was virtually unknown, and his health deteriorated dramatically. Robeson died after suffering a stroke in 1976 in the Philadelphia area. His autobiography Here I Stand gives his life view and documents his beliefs and experiences to 1958. Despite his many accomplishments during the 20th century, and his recognition by many scholars connected with Princeton and Rutgers Universities as being perhaps one of the greatest geniuses of that century, he is seldom, if ever, shown in history books. Despite that omission, however, on January 20, 2004 a postal stamp honoring Paul Robeson was unveiled in Princeton, New Jersey and is now part of the Black Heritage Stamp Collection. The sad thing is that this great talent is largely unknown by young people of color let alone most white Americans living today. Still his legacy continues in the music he gave that provides some sense of immortality for him.

One of Paul Robeson’s songs shows the conviction that everyone can and should contribute equally in America, which Robeson believed and spoke about, despite his interest in political issues that forced him to live many years in relative exile. He wanted to perform equally, as he had found in Europe, and mourned the segregation in America. Like Barack Obama as a young man Paul Robeson believed in the virtues of America, despite the great prejudices of his time. He had a vision of unity in diversity. The song, “Ballad of America,” is a riveting example of the power of his voice in song and speech. Here are some of its words:

“–From her plains and mountains, we have sprung,

To keep the faith with those who went before. . . .

Our marching song will come again,

Simple as a hit tune, deep as our valleys.

High as our mountains, strong as the people who made it.

For I have always believed it and I believe it now and you know who I am.”