Reading Journal Assignment Stage II

For this portion of the journal, you will create five journal entries, each addressing the prompts given below. Each entry will be one page in length, double spaced, with 12 point font (same directions as stage I). You need to keep with the creative storyline from the first stage of the journal project.

The premise: a few years have passed, and your survivor group has grown due to the merger with another group of survivors. You still maintain the position as the intellectual of the group because you are a historian.  Always relate your advice to the history from this class.

Journal entries will follow each prompt listed below.

• After your merge with another survivor group, you notice that a social hierarchy is emerging in this new group. How would you advise your group? Is a hierarchy beneficial? Does this help or harm your group in this new world?
• Your new group has eased past the initial issues it had with hierarchies. Everything is going smoothly, and suddenly a new epidemic erupts. A virulent influenza kills 30% of your group. What are your immediate priorities? How do you advise your group based upon the history of the Plague of Justinian?
• Your society has lost many of its members, people who could defend you, those with skills, and those with medical knowledge. Your group is weary of fighting and death. They all want to live in peace. They notice that there is a division of survivors: fighters, those who produce food, and those who have religious duties.  What type of government do you advise your group to have? Is a commune the right answer or do you think they should have an oligarchy or tyranny?
• History is full of tales of raids and invasions. Your group encounters either a raid by another group or an invasion. What can you tell your group to calm them after these events based upon history? If an invasion occurs in the future, what positive things can come from it?
• Your group survived the initial epidemic and a virulent form of influenza. Food is a major concern. Your group encounters a famine. You have run out of supplies, and canned goods are scarce. You plant food, but there is too much rain. How does this affect your group? Your group blames the leaders and looks to the religious leaders for help. Neighboring settlements charge high fees for food. Based upon the history of the Great Famine, what can you tell your group?