Final Blog Post

I thought collectively as a whole, the class did very well on the final presentations. The creativity of the slide designs was nice; it captured the audience's attention but did not distract too much from the presenter. Everyone seemed comfortable speaking to the class on their topic, in a clear, confident manner. I honestly did not have any negative things to say about the class presentations, everyone did very well and had very intriguing topics. The only thing we could continue to do is improve our presentation skills and techniques. While all of the presentations were good, there was a few design wise that stood out from the rest.

Blog Post 6

Possible issues that could occur when trying to teach the conquests of the New World from a school textbook versus the diario of Christopher Columbus or the accounts from the aztecs and cortes' journal, each show very different sides as to what happened. There is no real way to determine which account is most accurate, which leaves it to the reader to infer. The diary of Columbus and and Cortes show that the explorers just explored and did not harm any of the indigenous people; however, the accounts from the natives tell a very violent tale in which they welcomed the Europeans with open arms and gifts, but were returned with the slaughtering of their people. The best bet might be to take bits from each account in determining the truth of what happened between the natives and the settlers, since they could all have been biased.

Blog Post 4

For my final paper, I have chosen the theme of ancient Greek literature. I will be looking at how the role of women changed through some of these stories. Some of the stories that I will use will be The Iliad, and The Odyssey. I will also reference Sappho as a comparison to an actual societal examples that could have possibly been influenced from these roles. My thesis will focus on why these specific women were chosen, what messages it sent to the reader, and how it might have influenced future themes of defiance in society.

Final Research Paper

The focus of my final research paper will be on the different roles of women in The Odyssey, The Iliad, and in Sappho's poetry. In each of these poems there were women that played contradicting roles as to what the 'ideal' Greek woman was considered to be like in that period. Although, they were some of the cliche characteristics such as, the mother figures that were to mainly show grief and heartache over their husbands and sons gone at sea; which shows them a weak and inferior to the warrior men. Then there was Sappho, the poet and teacher of the island Lesbos, whose writing was shunned because of the homosexual undertones. I have not yet constructed a working thesis, but these poems/poets will be my main focuses in forming my analytic question. 

Conference of the Birds

"The Conference of the Birds," written by the Sufi, Attar, is more than just a poem about thirty birds and a hoopoe on a journey to find a king sharing stories along the way. The whole purpose of their journey is to find the Simurgh or their next ruler. Through this journey, each bird shares a story or personal experience as to why or why not they should be the next king. Each story represents a sin committed in the life of humans that keep them from reaching enlightenment. Through this journey that they are set on they must cross seven valleys, which are the seven lessons and stages we must go through to reach the understanding of the true nature of God. These seven paths include the valley of the quest, love's wide valley, insight into mystery, detachment and serenity, unity, awe,  and lastly poverty and nothingness. As the birds reach the Simurgh they come upon a lake which reflects nothing but themselves; it is then that they realize they are the Simurgh. This parallels with a Sufism teaching that God does not exist an external universe as a separate being, but that he is reflected in the summation of all that exists.

Iliad and The Odyssey

One of the most obvious themes in these stories, in my opinion, have to do with growth and strength. Odysseus has been gone for years and his family that is left where he used to rule in is ruins with the pain of his absence and the suitors destroying his land and pursuing his mother. When his son is given the news that he must not give up hope and search for his father it starts his journey to becoming a man. He starts this when he holds an assembly and addresses the suitors for disrespecting his family and his land for so long; telling them that they need to leave by the next day. He is met with even more disrespect and insults to his character. He does meet this with some insult as well, which shows some of the flaw in his growth throughout his journey. He learns that remorse will not allow you to grow and being a man you have to take power that is yours or somebody else will. These are not easy lessons for him and through these, he learns he must not give up.

Comparative Analysis

The three creation stories Gilgamesh, The Epic of Creation, and Genisis all share similarities although they are very different stories. All written in the BCE era, each of these stories contained important roles by men, gods or influence from one or the other. Two of the stories contained floods which seemed to have been brought on by the gods.
In Gilgamesh and Genesis, the floods were representative as God's return to Earth. The gods made a vow to secrecy in Gilgamesh to cause the food, or "the sacrifice." In Genesis, the flood was seen to cleanse the Earth; it was Gods first return since making the planet.
The role of men and the gods seemed to be the most important part of these stories analysis'. In Gilgamesh, men were entitled to power; although gods had the most power and control. In the Epic of Creation, gods represented wisdom, through the moon and the sun which people prayed to. In Genesis men and women were created by God equally and reliant on each other in some way.