Overview
Similar to last year, my humanities class is after lunch which means it is is my fourth and fifth period class. I can honestly say with clear conscience that humanities is a class that I look forward to attending everyday. Through this class I am learning so much and the content challenges me in more than one way every single day. This class encompasses content from sociology, psychology, history, geography, language arts and even a little bit of anthropology.
This year we will cover the Truth of War of a soldier, genocide, Vietnam war and then to end the year on a happy (ish) note we will be working on poetry.
Click on the titled sections below to see each project.
This year we will cover the Truth of War of a soldier, genocide, Vietnam war and then to end the year on a happy (ish) note we will be working on poetry.
Click on the titled sections below to see each project.
Poetry Project
In the beginning of writing my poem for the final project, I had this idea of focusing on the media. I wanted to write something that conveyed the truth that the media is making us think we have to fight against each other. Along with this, one of the main perspectives I aimed to communicate was that we are essentially the same and even when we want to shut everyone out, we should remember we are all connected. The first draft of my poem I put out that information bluntly and essentially shove this perspective down the audiences throats. Also, in earlier drafts, I focused more on the media and the materialistic desires from the perspective of a victim. In my final draft, this perspective grows to represent how we hurt each other because of what we see and shows how we are perpetrators just as much as victims. Instead of focusing on how we are hurt, I focused on how we hurt each other and really tied in the idea that "we are the same" and we are doing this to each other because of what we see.
One of the largest changes I made took place in between my 6th draft and my final (7th) draft. After an informational round of peer critique and reading the poem over and over again, it was clear that something needed to be added to help clarify my perspective. In the 6th draft, my poem jumps from the first section, which talks about the layers of the self, to the second half, which talks about the competition we face, in a way that is choppy: "…And alone, we are not strong enough.
Our screens, the cigarettes that blacken our minds turn our heads to each other in search of the hidden enemy..." At the last minute, I decided to take a risky move and add a whole stanza in between these lines to better connect the ideas I was trying to convey. My final poem reads: "…And alone, we are not strong enough.
Unconscious waves of empathy tune us in to the same station
Like the underlying roots of an aspen forest, our foundations are connected..." By adding a new stanza, I eased my audience into the new message and the new style that I was writing in. Instead of jumping from talking about the self into blaming the media, I go from talking about the self into talking about how everyone of our selves is connected to each other and then I introduce the idea that the media is preventing us from realizing the connection.
Through peer critiques and revision suggestions, I made a change in the last couple days of poem writing. Again, this edit comes in between my 6th and 7th draft. Everyday, we are bombarded by messages telling us we need to buy the newest type of bottled water, for instance, because scientists have proven that the water can be filtered through crystal cubes to make it have more electrolytes to replenish the system. When I was writing about competition and the messages of the media, I thought that one way to bring in how we are affected by the messages is to play into the propaganda that the media uses. One of the propaganda techniques is authority, like saying it has been tested by professionals, so in my poem I decided to add a stanza talking about scientists and the human mind. The stanza I added reads,
"Scientists have recently discovered a new lobe in the brain.
Located intermediate to the cerebellum and temporal lobe lies the “not enough” lobe.
So always remember: “You need to be better!”" I think that by adding this, the tone shifted which provides some excitement for the audience as well as giving them something to think about. Intellectually I hoped to give the audience something to think about, not only considering the naivety to the claim of authority but also to the legitimacy of the statement. When I think about this line, I imagine my own brain and I can clearly see in my head how the "not enough lobe" is constantly controlling my actions staying up to late to perfect a paper to pushing myself to exhaustion in sports, trying to reach the imaginary land of "enough." Through this stanza, I was trying to stir that same self reflection in the audience.
From earlier drafts in my poem, I tried writing about the artificiality of our external appearances. In one of the last stanzas, I used the tactic of asking my audience a question and trying to direct the poem to them, trying to make it more personal. In my fifth draft I wrote a stanza that read, "how long can our makeup caked faces last before the stress becomes too much and sweat streaks our cover-up?
do you realize the game only last for so long before our foreseeable loss?" Clearly, just by reading this it is clear that the words are poorly put together and lack the type of fiery power the rest of the poem had. After a couple of revisions and careful thinking, I found a better way to encompass those same ideas. This line in my final poem reads,
"CoverGirl lasts 24 hours! Only 24 hours before the thick foundation cracks with sweat streaks of stress
How much longer can you stay synthetic?" Not only did I change the wording of the first line to provide an alliteration and a smoother sentence, I also accused the audience of something. I think that in writing, if the author can make me feel like I have done something wrong then I am more willing to pay attention to the rest of the piece because I am searching from some reassurance from them after they accused me of something. In the second line of this stanza I ask the audience a clear question, challenging them and accusing them of being synthetic. I think that in the end, this really helped the ending of my poem have some power behind it because I was deliberately bringing them off their high horse and trying to get them to hold on to my words a little longer, searching for that familiar reassurance.
One of the largest changes I made took place in between my 6th draft and my final (7th) draft. After an informational round of peer critique and reading the poem over and over again, it was clear that something needed to be added to help clarify my perspective. In the 6th draft, my poem jumps from the first section, which talks about the layers of the self, to the second half, which talks about the competition we face, in a way that is choppy: "…And alone, we are not strong enough.
Our screens, the cigarettes that blacken our minds turn our heads to each other in search of the hidden enemy..." At the last minute, I decided to take a risky move and add a whole stanza in between these lines to better connect the ideas I was trying to convey. My final poem reads: "…And alone, we are not strong enough.
Unconscious waves of empathy tune us in to the same station
Like the underlying roots of an aspen forest, our foundations are connected..." By adding a new stanza, I eased my audience into the new message and the new style that I was writing in. Instead of jumping from talking about the self into blaming the media, I go from talking about the self into talking about how everyone of our selves is connected to each other and then I introduce the idea that the media is preventing us from realizing the connection.
Through peer critiques and revision suggestions, I made a change in the last couple days of poem writing. Again, this edit comes in between my 6th and 7th draft. Everyday, we are bombarded by messages telling us we need to buy the newest type of bottled water, for instance, because scientists have proven that the water can be filtered through crystal cubes to make it have more electrolytes to replenish the system. When I was writing about competition and the messages of the media, I thought that one way to bring in how we are affected by the messages is to play into the propaganda that the media uses. One of the propaganda techniques is authority, like saying it has been tested by professionals, so in my poem I decided to add a stanza talking about scientists and the human mind. The stanza I added reads,
"Scientists have recently discovered a new lobe in the brain.
Located intermediate to the cerebellum and temporal lobe lies the “not enough” lobe.
So always remember: “You need to be better!”" I think that by adding this, the tone shifted which provides some excitement for the audience as well as giving them something to think about. Intellectually I hoped to give the audience something to think about, not only considering the naivety to the claim of authority but also to the legitimacy of the statement. When I think about this line, I imagine my own brain and I can clearly see in my head how the "not enough lobe" is constantly controlling my actions staying up to late to perfect a paper to pushing myself to exhaustion in sports, trying to reach the imaginary land of "enough." Through this stanza, I was trying to stir that same self reflection in the audience.
From earlier drafts in my poem, I tried writing about the artificiality of our external appearances. In one of the last stanzas, I used the tactic of asking my audience a question and trying to direct the poem to them, trying to make it more personal. In my fifth draft I wrote a stanza that read, "how long can our makeup caked faces last before the stress becomes too much and sweat streaks our cover-up?
do you realize the game only last for so long before our foreseeable loss?" Clearly, just by reading this it is clear that the words are poorly put together and lack the type of fiery power the rest of the poem had. After a couple of revisions and careful thinking, I found a better way to encompass those same ideas. This line in my final poem reads,
"CoverGirl lasts 24 hours! Only 24 hours before the thick foundation cracks with sweat streaks of stress
How much longer can you stay synthetic?" Not only did I change the wording of the first line to provide an alliteration and a smoother sentence, I also accused the audience of something. I think that in writing, if the author can make me feel like I have done something wrong then I am more willing to pay attention to the rest of the piece because I am searching from some reassurance from them after they accused me of something. In the second line of this stanza I ask the audience a clear question, challenging them and accusing them of being synthetic. I think that in the end, this really helped the ending of my poem have some power behind it because I was deliberately bringing them off their high horse and trying to get them to hold on to my words a little longer, searching for that familiar reassurance.
Seminar Sequence
At Animas High School, students engage in Socratic Seminars. Students read and deeply annotate a book or article of the teachers choice and then "coach" on the piece. Coaching means they go through the main points of the writing with class mates and they prepare themselves to discuss main themes, messages and tones of the writing in a Seminar. The Seminar consists of the teacher asking questions and the students answering them with their own perspective while quoting the text and using specific evidence to support their educated claims while remembering that the it is a discussion not a debate. After the seminar the students write a reflection of the discussion. These are reflections from two of the seminars this year.
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas:
The sun shines over the city of Omelas a few short weeks after the Festival of Summer. Gentle waves kissed the shore and left a line of delicate foam along the fine sand. The sky was saturated with a thick peachy hue dotted with silhouettes of the frantic swallows. In the distance, the sky cast a dark blue sheet over the majestic mountains and as nature falls asleep, the people of Omelas draw near their homes for the night as well.
Aaron stows his wooden flute in his bag and slings it over his shoulder, turning towards his home. A warm orange glow from the bonfire lights up his back as he wanders into the darkness. Droopy eyes and a mile later Aaron quietly opens the door to the two room cabin he shared with his mother, father and twin little sisters. He lays his bag down on the low table and crawls under the blanket next to his sister, Maria. She opens her eyes and the moon shines in her pupil. Maria looks straight at Aaron and whispers to him.
“You are in tttrroouuubbbllleee.”
Aaron rolls his eyes and flips over to face the stark living room and the tally wall hanging above the sink, knowing in the morning another deadly mark would be added under his name.
A couple miles away, the child in the basement cautiously crawls towards the mops and brooms in the corner, away from the silver strands of moonlight forcing themselves through the grimy window. The child remembers the brooms and mops; the yelling and lightning fast smack, the sting of guilt and frustrating. The child remembers the puss filled red welts across the back and the itch of infection. It bites its lip and the thin skin easily breaks as its teeth sink deeper into the flesh of the bottom lip. It savors the coppery taste and slick texture against its teeth; something thrilling about the taste of something new. The child reaches for the rustiest mop and drags it away from its posse of evil house hold tools. Once the child has a firm grip on the edge of the mop, it scrambles back to the small square of light. Exhausted by the effort, the child stares at the mop it clutched so tightly that its knuckles lost color. For the better part of 3 hours, the child just sat there.
Motivation gradually creeps back into the being on the floor of the basement and, like a demon, takes control of the child. Discordantly, the child rips the strands from the head of the mop to reveal the sharp rusty metal scalp of the mop. The thin, weak frame of the child slouches forward, defeated by society.
In the fading moon beams and the sleepy beginning of a new day, the child draws the blade of the mop across its scrawny neck and lays down to let its thin blood spill into the hard packed earth as its heart murmurs into silence.
Four days later, the caretaker of the child stomps down the steps to the enclosure of the child. The frail shell of the child lies flat out in the middle of the tiny closet. The caretaker closes the door, not a flicker of emotion visible on his young face.
The town is gathers in the large meadow, each family holding their tally boards up above their heads to shelter their eyes from the blistering sun. The people align in rows, comparing the tallies. The families with the highest count form the first row and so on until the childless towns people line up at the very back. Aaron nervously fidgets with the tips of his fingers, peeling at his cuticles. His family makes their way to the front row and he stands, as if before God for judgment, with his father and mother, Maria and Talia running in the soft blades of grass to the left of the gathering.
Only four families stand in the front row and they compare total tallies. Aaron sees a family to the right of them, holding each other and washing away the pasty chalk on their board. Their child, Paige, was found in the forest just an hour earlier, hanging limply from a tree, her face puffy and eyes red; her body cold and stiff. Paige often was careless and received tallies, her total far surpassing Aarons. With her gone, he held the most tallies and slowly this started to register in his head. He cursed himself, his family, the town and himself again for good measure. Aaron looked in to the sky that was far too joyful for the occasion, and wished he hung from the sturdy branches of the trees too.
Aaron weakly fights off the caretake for a few seconds before Aaron surrendered to the caretaker and allowed himself to be taken to the basement. The caretaker kicks the boy in the back of the knees, forcing the child onto its knees in the waste caking the floor of the closet. The caretaker grabs the mop and repeatedly bashes the child with the hard handle.
This treatment is continued for a month, while the rest of society continues their blissful lives, to show the child who owns it. And slowly, just like those who came before, the child will forget the details of the past and live in dull world where only simple, repetitive thoughts occupy its empty mind.
“They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery.”
In the short story of Omelas, the author mentions guilt. I think that this idea of guilt is connected throughout the whole message of the story and to happiness itself. The text talks about how there is no guilt in Omelas. When reading this, it didn’t make sense to me because guilt, like all emotions, is inevitable. However, the whole society seems to be working towards happiness and joy. In my personal experience, I have found that if I am guilty about something it is harder for me to be happy. This society completely eliminates guilt so they can reach a state of purer happiness. Guilt creates regret and wishing something had been different in the past. Remove guilt and you remove worry and overthinking the past. Then they are free to live in the moment and be happy with how things are. In the story, the author says (in reference to releasing the child), “to exchange all the goodness and grace of every life in Omelas for that single, small improvement: to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of happiness of one: that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed.” (LeGuin, 5) Here the author is essentially outlining how guilt affects people. They see what they did, and what they could have done differently and they think that something else would have made them happier. In this case, the people would have thought about how happy they would have been if they hadn’t released the child and they would then be overcome with guilt because they made the wrong choice. Then they would constantly be living in the past and dwelling on their mistake instead of moving forward to a happy future. Guilt limits our happiness by bring us back to our mistakes again and again and causing us to forget how happy we can be in that moment.
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas:
The sun shines over the city of Omelas a few short weeks after the Festival of Summer. Gentle waves kissed the shore and left a line of delicate foam along the fine sand. The sky was saturated with a thick peachy hue dotted with silhouettes of the frantic swallows. In the distance, the sky cast a dark blue sheet over the majestic mountains and as nature falls asleep, the people of Omelas draw near their homes for the night as well.
Aaron stows his wooden flute in his bag and slings it over his shoulder, turning towards his home. A warm orange glow from the bonfire lights up his back as he wanders into the darkness. Droopy eyes and a mile later Aaron quietly opens the door to the two room cabin he shared with his mother, father and twin little sisters. He lays his bag down on the low table and crawls under the blanket next to his sister, Maria. She opens her eyes and the moon shines in her pupil. Maria looks straight at Aaron and whispers to him.
“You are in tttrroouuubbbllleee.”
Aaron rolls his eyes and flips over to face the stark living room and the tally wall hanging above the sink, knowing in the morning another deadly mark would be added under his name.
A couple miles away, the child in the basement cautiously crawls towards the mops and brooms in the corner, away from the silver strands of moonlight forcing themselves through the grimy window. The child remembers the brooms and mops; the yelling and lightning fast smack, the sting of guilt and frustrating. The child remembers the puss filled red welts across the back and the itch of infection. It bites its lip and the thin skin easily breaks as its teeth sink deeper into the flesh of the bottom lip. It savors the coppery taste and slick texture against its teeth; something thrilling about the taste of something new. The child reaches for the rustiest mop and drags it away from its posse of evil house hold tools. Once the child has a firm grip on the edge of the mop, it scrambles back to the small square of light. Exhausted by the effort, the child stares at the mop it clutched so tightly that its knuckles lost color. For the better part of 3 hours, the child just sat there.
Motivation gradually creeps back into the being on the floor of the basement and, like a demon, takes control of the child. Discordantly, the child rips the strands from the head of the mop to reveal the sharp rusty metal scalp of the mop. The thin, weak frame of the child slouches forward, defeated by society.
In the fading moon beams and the sleepy beginning of a new day, the child draws the blade of the mop across its scrawny neck and lays down to let its thin blood spill into the hard packed earth as its heart murmurs into silence.
Four days later, the caretaker of the child stomps down the steps to the enclosure of the child. The frail shell of the child lies flat out in the middle of the tiny closet. The caretaker closes the door, not a flicker of emotion visible on his young face.
The town is gathers in the large meadow, each family holding their tally boards up above their heads to shelter their eyes from the blistering sun. The people align in rows, comparing the tallies. The families with the highest count form the first row and so on until the childless towns people line up at the very back. Aaron nervously fidgets with the tips of his fingers, peeling at his cuticles. His family makes their way to the front row and he stands, as if before God for judgment, with his father and mother, Maria and Talia running in the soft blades of grass to the left of the gathering.
Only four families stand in the front row and they compare total tallies. Aaron sees a family to the right of them, holding each other and washing away the pasty chalk on their board. Their child, Paige, was found in the forest just an hour earlier, hanging limply from a tree, her face puffy and eyes red; her body cold and stiff. Paige often was careless and received tallies, her total far surpassing Aarons. With her gone, he held the most tallies and slowly this started to register in his head. He cursed himself, his family, the town and himself again for good measure. Aaron looked in to the sky that was far too joyful for the occasion, and wished he hung from the sturdy branches of the trees too.
Aaron weakly fights off the caretake for a few seconds before Aaron surrendered to the caretaker and allowed himself to be taken to the basement. The caretaker kicks the boy in the back of the knees, forcing the child onto its knees in the waste caking the floor of the closet. The caretaker grabs the mop and repeatedly bashes the child with the hard handle.
This treatment is continued for a month, while the rest of society continues their blissful lives, to show the child who owns it. And slowly, just like those who came before, the child will forget the details of the past and live in dull world where only simple, repetitive thoughts occupy its empty mind.
“They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery.”
In the short story of Omelas, the author mentions guilt. I think that this idea of guilt is connected throughout the whole message of the story and to happiness itself. The text talks about how there is no guilt in Omelas. When reading this, it didn’t make sense to me because guilt, like all emotions, is inevitable. However, the whole society seems to be working towards happiness and joy. In my personal experience, I have found that if I am guilty about something it is harder for me to be happy. This society completely eliminates guilt so they can reach a state of purer happiness. Guilt creates regret and wishing something had been different in the past. Remove guilt and you remove worry and overthinking the past. Then they are free to live in the moment and be happy with how things are. In the story, the author says (in reference to releasing the child), “to exchange all the goodness and grace of every life in Omelas for that single, small improvement: to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of happiness of one: that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed.” (LeGuin, 5) Here the author is essentially outlining how guilt affects people. They see what they did, and what they could have done differently and they think that something else would have made them happier. In this case, the people would have thought about how happy they would have been if they hadn’t released the child and they would then be overcome with guilt because they made the wrong choice. Then they would constantly be living in the past and dwelling on their mistake instead of moving forward to a happy future. Guilt limits our happiness by bring us back to our mistakes again and again and causing us to forget how happy we can be in that moment.
The Global Village:
During this heated seminar regarding the “Global Village,” Tatum made a very interesting comment regarding history of nations and cultures. Tatum said: “You can’t change history through globalization.” I think that what he was trying to communicate through this quote was that no matter what we paste over the original culture, there will always be the history that separates the country through unique traits. This also means that that historical culture is always there and if it gets a chance, it may come back to the surface through the layers of an international identity. This made me think a lot more about where I was coming from and my original perspectives. It made me think that globalization may not be able to unite the whole world like I thought it might. His quote helped deepened my perspective about how globalization might appear in a cycle. I believe that at a certain point, technology will just reach a peak and then we will start to degrees. If we always have our history, it might start to surface the farther down we fall. I think that we will come so low and fall back onto our old traditions and cultures or we will have to start from scratch and learn a whole new way of living. It was really interesting to think that even if our whole world becomes essentially the same; our history will still be there to set us apart.
If our world becomes united through globalization, will that be a positive improvement or a negative improvement? There are a couple answers to this question. Miles Rivera said in the seminar; “I definitely think that it is good because if we all come together we can…get rid of our differences and focus on problems that we all share.” If our cultures melt together, our problems will probably become more similar than they already are. For example, sexually transmitted diseases are an issues everywhere as well as teen pregnancy rates. These are things that we, as a whole, could target and fix together instead of fighting our own battles. When you are alone working on something, it may be harder to find innovative solutions but add another mind to the mix and a whole new perspective comes into play. There is potential for this extreme cooperation on issues in our world, through globalization. In the article “The Global Village Finally Arrives,” Pico Iyer says, “but deeper than mere goods, it is souls that are mingling.” (1) By this I think that he is saying through the connection we are having with materials, as humans we are also finding a common ground in deeper ways such as spiritually and mentally. In the past, humans have had connections in spirituality and mentality, but through the globalization and mix of cultures it is more prevalent. In essence, the potential unity that lies within our reach could bring us into a peaceful, understanding and positive era.
However, shortly after Miles’ comment, Johnny Middleton made a point that essentially blew the previous argument out of the water and was then strengthened throughout the seminar. Johnny said, “That [globalization] would be great if everything happened perfectly. But there are some isolated countries…that wouldn’t conform to it [globalization]…and there might be two races, ‘expensive’ countries and isolated countries.” So what does he mean by isolated countries? In the text Iyer wrote, “some places…remain as isolated as ever.” (2) This essentially means that two types of populations will exist; the ones that have joined the bandwagon of unification and the ones that desperately cling to their identity or lack access to evolve. If we have areas that are still isolated, it will be the globalized world against those groups. This could create states or tribes which then will lead to power struggles and could even turn into war. After war, there would be new territory boundaries rising up and our world would start at the beginning of the cycle. I believe that if we could totally connect all of the nations with no acceptations, this could bring us into a positive new world. The possibility of this happening is so small, complete unification may be unattainable. Because it is not realistic, globalization is ultimately a negative thing.
The ideas that we were talking about in seminar are closely linked to Johan Galtung’s theory of violence. Galtung’s definition of violence is anything that limits an individual’s potential. A limiting factor of this system is poverty. In this scenario, the poor countries that don’t have money are being limited because that they don’t have access to the things that the rest of the world is obtaining such as clothing, gadgets and even the media. Without this access to material goods and media, these countries will be slow on the uptake of globalization and they may never be able to catch on. Also, discussed in class was Galtung’s categorization of different violence’s. One type of violence is Direct vs. Structural. Direct is where it is very obvious who the perpetrator is and who the victim in the situation is. Structural is where violence is happening in a system, but the perpetrator is harder to identify. In globalization, the countries that will not have access to the media or objects will be victims of a structural violence because they will have a limited potential by not being able to have the privileges we have. Through globalization, the perpetrator in this situation will not be able to be pinpointed but there will still be violence and victims of that violence.
This picture is connecting to Dr. Seuss’; The Sneeches. The story that he wrote is about star belly sneeches and sneeches without star bellies. Then a man comes and he has a machine that changes star bellies to no stars and vice versa. The sneeches yearn so badly to be individual and unique; they spend all their money on changing their bellies. At the end of the story, the sneeches realize that they are all still unique even if they look like the other sneeches and they begin to live in a peaceful community. In the article Iyer says, “as fast as the world comes to America, America goes round the world.” We are always trying to catch up and stay with the constantly changing style. This connects to the sneeches and how they easily adopt trends and fads. This cartoon also symbolizes how if globalization takes control of our world, there may be a struggle at the beginning where we are all trying to match the other countries but we will soon learn that we don’t have to be just like the other countries and spend our energy on keeping up with them. We will realize we can adapt to their trends as they come to us and our trends will go to them in the same fashion
Additionally, globalization can be related to viral videos. Just like the Harlem Shake video that the afternoon humanities class made got around the school’s students before class was even over, media can spread incredibly fast as well as styles and the latest fashions. We live in a world where everyone moves so fast, it is just like a viral video quickly taking hold of the internet and soon everyone has heard of it or seen it. Globalization is similar in the sense that styles, foods, and corporations are moving around the world at an unbelievable speed.
During this heated seminar regarding the “Global Village,” Tatum made a very interesting comment regarding history of nations and cultures. Tatum said: “You can’t change history through globalization.” I think that what he was trying to communicate through this quote was that no matter what we paste over the original culture, there will always be the history that separates the country through unique traits. This also means that that historical culture is always there and if it gets a chance, it may come back to the surface through the layers of an international identity. This made me think a lot more about where I was coming from and my original perspectives. It made me think that globalization may not be able to unite the whole world like I thought it might. His quote helped deepened my perspective about how globalization might appear in a cycle. I believe that at a certain point, technology will just reach a peak and then we will start to degrees. If we always have our history, it might start to surface the farther down we fall. I think that we will come so low and fall back onto our old traditions and cultures or we will have to start from scratch and learn a whole new way of living. It was really interesting to think that even if our whole world becomes essentially the same; our history will still be there to set us apart.
If our world becomes united through globalization, will that be a positive improvement or a negative improvement? There are a couple answers to this question. Miles Rivera said in the seminar; “I definitely think that it is good because if we all come together we can…get rid of our differences and focus on problems that we all share.” If our cultures melt together, our problems will probably become more similar than they already are. For example, sexually transmitted diseases are an issues everywhere as well as teen pregnancy rates. These are things that we, as a whole, could target and fix together instead of fighting our own battles. When you are alone working on something, it may be harder to find innovative solutions but add another mind to the mix and a whole new perspective comes into play. There is potential for this extreme cooperation on issues in our world, through globalization. In the article “The Global Village Finally Arrives,” Pico Iyer says, “but deeper than mere goods, it is souls that are mingling.” (1) By this I think that he is saying through the connection we are having with materials, as humans we are also finding a common ground in deeper ways such as spiritually and mentally. In the past, humans have had connections in spirituality and mentality, but through the globalization and mix of cultures it is more prevalent. In essence, the potential unity that lies within our reach could bring us into a peaceful, understanding and positive era.
However, shortly after Miles’ comment, Johnny Middleton made a point that essentially blew the previous argument out of the water and was then strengthened throughout the seminar. Johnny said, “That [globalization] would be great if everything happened perfectly. But there are some isolated countries…that wouldn’t conform to it [globalization]…and there might be two races, ‘expensive’ countries and isolated countries.” So what does he mean by isolated countries? In the text Iyer wrote, “some places…remain as isolated as ever.” (2) This essentially means that two types of populations will exist; the ones that have joined the bandwagon of unification and the ones that desperately cling to their identity or lack access to evolve. If we have areas that are still isolated, it will be the globalized world against those groups. This could create states or tribes which then will lead to power struggles and could even turn into war. After war, there would be new territory boundaries rising up and our world would start at the beginning of the cycle. I believe that if we could totally connect all of the nations with no acceptations, this could bring us into a positive new world. The possibility of this happening is so small, complete unification may be unattainable. Because it is not realistic, globalization is ultimately a negative thing.
The ideas that we were talking about in seminar are closely linked to Johan Galtung’s theory of violence. Galtung’s definition of violence is anything that limits an individual’s potential. A limiting factor of this system is poverty. In this scenario, the poor countries that don’t have money are being limited because that they don’t have access to the things that the rest of the world is obtaining such as clothing, gadgets and even the media. Without this access to material goods and media, these countries will be slow on the uptake of globalization and they may never be able to catch on. Also, discussed in class was Galtung’s categorization of different violence’s. One type of violence is Direct vs. Structural. Direct is where it is very obvious who the perpetrator is and who the victim in the situation is. Structural is where violence is happening in a system, but the perpetrator is harder to identify. In globalization, the countries that will not have access to the media or objects will be victims of a structural violence because they will have a limited potential by not being able to have the privileges we have. Through globalization, the perpetrator in this situation will not be able to be pinpointed but there will still be violence and victims of that violence.
This picture is connecting to Dr. Seuss’; The Sneeches. The story that he wrote is about star belly sneeches and sneeches without star bellies. Then a man comes and he has a machine that changes star bellies to no stars and vice versa. The sneeches yearn so badly to be individual and unique; they spend all their money on changing their bellies. At the end of the story, the sneeches realize that they are all still unique even if they look like the other sneeches and they begin to live in a peaceful community. In the article Iyer says, “as fast as the world comes to America, America goes round the world.” We are always trying to catch up and stay with the constantly changing style. This connects to the sneeches and how they easily adopt trends and fads. This cartoon also symbolizes how if globalization takes control of our world, there may be a struggle at the beginning where we are all trying to match the other countries but we will soon learn that we don’t have to be just like the other countries and spend our energy on keeping up with them. We will realize we can adapt to their trends as they come to us and our trends will go to them in the same fashion
Additionally, globalization can be related to viral videos. Just like the Harlem Shake video that the afternoon humanities class made got around the school’s students before class was even over, media can spread incredibly fast as well as styles and the latest fashions. We live in a world where everyone moves so fast, it is just like a viral video quickly taking hold of the internet and soon everyone has heard of it or seen it. Globalization is similar in the sense that styles, foods, and corporations are moving around the world at an unbelievable speed.
Genocide Project
After extensively studying the Rwandan Genocide as a class, we were assigned an individual genocide to study independently. We were assigned two different research assignments to get familiar with our genocide. The first research assignment was just to discover the causes, short term and long, of the genocide, how it happened through the 8 stages of genocide, the responses and resistance to the genocide and how justice was served. The second research notes were more specific and we were tasked with finding and citing at least 4 primary sources and 4 secondary sources. In our sources, we were looking for specific evidence to support the thesis of our final project. Our final project was to write an op-ed that was in between 750-1000 words and create a political cartoon to represent our genocide.
For my project, I studied the first "genocide" in history; the Armenian Genocide. One of the most interesting things about this massacre of the Armenians is the fact that the Turkish Government actively denies the word genocide. After reading about this genocide, I was really intrigued by the fact that they still deny that it was a legitimate genocide. I decided to focus my research and project around the psychology behind denial. I researched the methods of denial, how it applies to the genocide and what the Turkish government has done in the name of denial. In my op-ed, I wrote about these topics using multiple pieces of evidence to support my thesis. In my political cartoon, I drew the cross section of a head and the inside showed the production of denial while the person was trying to swallow the truth.
In drawing political cartoons, I have grown so much. In the beginning when we drew a political cartoon for the Rwandan genocide, my cartoon was poorly drawn and revolved strongly around a person. Now, I have learned how to incorporate more symbols and analogies. I was able to draw a cartoon that didn't require extensive details of people and so it fit my drawing range. Also, I grew by making clear yet clever analogies in my cartoon. In my Rwanda political cartoon, I used the symbol of the cockroach, but this was a commonly used symbol in many of my peers' cartoons. The political cartoon that I drew used a creative analogy to show that the person was trying to swallow the truth. Although I did not think of this by myself, I had my peer critique group help me, I still feel that I was able to effectively incorporate a clever analogy. One of the most important things I learned is that a cartoon doesn't always have to be funny and with this in my mind, I was able to draw something I can be proud of and that clearly represents my op-ed.
The main difference of op-ed writing and other types of writing is that it is shorter and more concise Each paragraph ranges from one sentence to about 8 sentences. The paragraphs focus on one idea and once that idea is addressed a new paragraph is created. For those of you who know me, you know how much I like to elaborate and write. To have the task of keeping my writing between 750-1000 words was like taking away a babies rattle; devastating. I started out my writing using flowery words and extensive sentences. When I started to approach the limit of words and I hadn't really reached the bulk of my paper, I honestly started to have a minor panic attack. I sat staring at my screen, changing the song, plagued with music ADD, and Googling random images online. I didn't know how to move forward because I knew I would have to cut beautiful writing and that crushes me. However, I finally scolded myself for wasting time and forced myself to revise and compress my writing. I think the most important thing I learned about this process was that concise writing can actually be much more powerful that elaborate works. I am going to try to cut my sentences down even if it is not required because it is a valuable skill and it also helps the audience stay engaged longer and better comprehend the writing.
For my project, I studied the first "genocide" in history; the Armenian Genocide. One of the most interesting things about this massacre of the Armenians is the fact that the Turkish Government actively denies the word genocide. After reading about this genocide, I was really intrigued by the fact that they still deny that it was a legitimate genocide. I decided to focus my research and project around the psychology behind denial. I researched the methods of denial, how it applies to the genocide and what the Turkish government has done in the name of denial. In my op-ed, I wrote about these topics using multiple pieces of evidence to support my thesis. In my political cartoon, I drew the cross section of a head and the inside showed the production of denial while the person was trying to swallow the truth.
In drawing political cartoons, I have grown so much. In the beginning when we drew a political cartoon for the Rwandan genocide, my cartoon was poorly drawn and revolved strongly around a person. Now, I have learned how to incorporate more symbols and analogies. I was able to draw a cartoon that didn't require extensive details of people and so it fit my drawing range. Also, I grew by making clear yet clever analogies in my cartoon. In my Rwanda political cartoon, I used the symbol of the cockroach, but this was a commonly used symbol in many of my peers' cartoons. The political cartoon that I drew used a creative analogy to show that the person was trying to swallow the truth. Although I did not think of this by myself, I had my peer critique group help me, I still feel that I was able to effectively incorporate a clever analogy. One of the most important things I learned is that a cartoon doesn't always have to be funny and with this in my mind, I was able to draw something I can be proud of and that clearly represents my op-ed.
The main difference of op-ed writing and other types of writing is that it is shorter and more concise Each paragraph ranges from one sentence to about 8 sentences. The paragraphs focus on one idea and once that idea is addressed a new paragraph is created. For those of you who know me, you know how much I like to elaborate and write. To have the task of keeping my writing between 750-1000 words was like taking away a babies rattle; devastating. I started out my writing using flowery words and extensive sentences. When I started to approach the limit of words and I hadn't really reached the bulk of my paper, I honestly started to have a minor panic attack. I sat staring at my screen, changing the song, plagued with music ADD, and Googling random images online. I didn't know how to move forward because I knew I would have to cut beautiful writing and that crushes me. However, I finally scolded myself for wasting time and forced myself to revise and compress my writing. I think the most important thing I learned about this process was that concise writing can actually be much more powerful that elaborate works. I am going to try to cut my sentences down even if it is not required because it is a valuable skill and it also helps the audience stay engaged longer and better comprehend the writing.
The Truth of War
Leading up to this project we were learning about World War One and World War Two. Additionally, we read two books about each war. During these two months, we learned so much about those involved in the wars, the strategies and the propaganda and dictators of the time. One of my favorite assignments that we did in humanities was just simply talking notes on the different war fronts in World War One. Last year I took psychology with Lori and through that class I learned how to take comprehensible notes that were clear and organized. Because of this past experiences taking notes in Lori's class, I was able to take those skills and apply them in my note taking regarding World War One. Through this note taking I was able to pay attention to Lori during lecture, but also be able to take notes that I could refer to in the future.
Through these different assignments, perspectives examples of war, we compiled our knowledge and created a personal perspective statement about what the truth of war was for a soldier. We wrote an essay based on our perspective statement and then created a visual or a separate piece of writing to go along with our analytical essay. My perspective statement was: No one knows better than a soldier how it feels to live in this reality of never knowing when you will take your last breath. No one knows better than a soldier that every single second is a gift that cannot be taken for granted. Through my visual, this statement is reflected. The outside of my painting represents this fast pace, modern world that is constantly setting goals and when reached, the goals are belittled by the next big project. We never take a breather to just be in the moment. At exhibition, I had a soldiers helmet and a gas mask for the audience to try on. When they put the props on, they could open the panels and see the crystal which represented that the soldiers see this moment as a blindingly brilliant, clear moment and none of the chaos going on around them matters. This is what happens to a soldier when their life is on the line; they only focus on the present and being right where they are in that moment.
One of the Habits of Heart and Mind that I really utilized in my project was perspective. In society, war can be viewed as horrible and tragic, which it is. War is also often glorified in society and so many mediums of propaganda inform us that it is a noble and heroic cause to fight for your country. The perspective that I chose to focus on was that of a soldier when he is in the war and when he gets home. I believe that when a soldier is allowed to just be right here right now, he is in touch the a raw part of his soul and that rush of adrenaline combined with the clarity of living in the moment is something a soldier can fall in love with. Through this project, I learned about how many different ways war can be viewed and through this I tried to incorporate perspective into my project. I first have the outside which represents societies view on the moment and how it isn't really that important, and then the inside shows what a soldier sees which is an indescribable beauty to behold.
When writing our essays, we got multiple rounds of feedback, first from our peers and then from our teacher. One large revision that I made to my essay was to cut out all of the questions that I had in my paper. I like to write questions without direct answers so that the audience can come to conclusions on their own, however I had too many of those questions. I went through my paper and only picked out the most important questions. This was to aid my reader in staying focused on what was most important. Because I had too many questions, my readers got confused and couldn't understand my main point. By taking the questions out, I was making it an easier read. Another revision that I made was rewriting a whole paragraph. The point I was trying to make in the paragraph was that war was painful, however I dwelled too much on the different styles of combat. I changed this paragraph and gave one short example of each type of warfare, trench and urban, and then strengthened my main point of the horrors of war. This change made it clearer for my reader to understand where I was going with it. Also, with the new analysis in my paragraph the reader could easily make the connection between my perspective statement and the paragraph. This revision made my whole essay stronger because it made my final point built upon evidence.
"If you had another week to work on the project and essay, what's one change or addition you would make to each of them to make them even more amazing?" Pshh, please my project is perfect! Just kidding. If I had another week to work, I probably would have redone my painting. Although it looks really beautiful on the outside, the outside is supposed to represent chaos and I feel like that isn't clearly portrayed. To fix this, I would paint over the whole thing black again and then splatter paint the outside so that the air of disorder was prevalent. I think that by doing this, my message of chaos would be easier understood by the viewers. I am pretty proud of my essay, however, I would like to challenge myself by cutting my essay down. Many people try to make theirs as long as possible, however in the next project we are limited to one page and so to prepare myself for this, I would like to work on shortening my writing and getting right to the point of paper. Also, by shortening my paper, people might actually want to read it and then I would enhance my spiel with parts of my paper and they would know what I was talking about because they had read it.
Through these different assignments, perspectives examples of war, we compiled our knowledge and created a personal perspective statement about what the truth of war was for a soldier. We wrote an essay based on our perspective statement and then created a visual or a separate piece of writing to go along with our analytical essay. My perspective statement was: No one knows better than a soldier how it feels to live in this reality of never knowing when you will take your last breath. No one knows better than a soldier that every single second is a gift that cannot be taken for granted. Through my visual, this statement is reflected. The outside of my painting represents this fast pace, modern world that is constantly setting goals and when reached, the goals are belittled by the next big project. We never take a breather to just be in the moment. At exhibition, I had a soldiers helmet and a gas mask for the audience to try on. When they put the props on, they could open the panels and see the crystal which represented that the soldiers see this moment as a blindingly brilliant, clear moment and none of the chaos going on around them matters. This is what happens to a soldier when their life is on the line; they only focus on the present and being right where they are in that moment.
One of the Habits of Heart and Mind that I really utilized in my project was perspective. In society, war can be viewed as horrible and tragic, which it is. War is also often glorified in society and so many mediums of propaganda inform us that it is a noble and heroic cause to fight for your country. The perspective that I chose to focus on was that of a soldier when he is in the war and when he gets home. I believe that when a soldier is allowed to just be right here right now, he is in touch the a raw part of his soul and that rush of adrenaline combined with the clarity of living in the moment is something a soldier can fall in love with. Through this project, I learned about how many different ways war can be viewed and through this I tried to incorporate perspective into my project. I first have the outside which represents societies view on the moment and how it isn't really that important, and then the inside shows what a soldier sees which is an indescribable beauty to behold.
When writing our essays, we got multiple rounds of feedback, first from our peers and then from our teacher. One large revision that I made to my essay was to cut out all of the questions that I had in my paper. I like to write questions without direct answers so that the audience can come to conclusions on their own, however I had too many of those questions. I went through my paper and only picked out the most important questions. This was to aid my reader in staying focused on what was most important. Because I had too many questions, my readers got confused and couldn't understand my main point. By taking the questions out, I was making it an easier read. Another revision that I made was rewriting a whole paragraph. The point I was trying to make in the paragraph was that war was painful, however I dwelled too much on the different styles of combat. I changed this paragraph and gave one short example of each type of warfare, trench and urban, and then strengthened my main point of the horrors of war. This change made it clearer for my reader to understand where I was going with it. Also, with the new analysis in my paragraph the reader could easily make the connection between my perspective statement and the paragraph. This revision made my whole essay stronger because it made my final point built upon evidence.
"If you had another week to work on the project and essay, what's one change or addition you would make to each of them to make them even more amazing?" Pshh, please my project is perfect! Just kidding. If I had another week to work, I probably would have redone my painting. Although it looks really beautiful on the outside, the outside is supposed to represent chaos and I feel like that isn't clearly portrayed. To fix this, I would paint over the whole thing black again and then splatter paint the outside so that the air of disorder was prevalent. I think that by doing this, my message of chaos would be easier understood by the viewers. I am pretty proud of my essay, however, I would like to challenge myself by cutting my essay down. Many people try to make theirs as long as possible, however in the next project we are limited to one page and so to prepare myself for this, I would like to work on shortening my writing and getting right to the point of paper. Also, by shortening my paper, people might actually want to read it and then I would enhance my spiel with parts of my paper and they would know what I was talking about because they had read it.
Animas High School 3206 North Main Avenue Durango, CO 81301 (970) 247-2474
My Contact Information: [email protected]
Updated on: 5.21.13
My Contact Information: [email protected]
Updated on: 5.21.13