Reply to Elena's Blog 7

I really enjoy all these images that you showed. I agree with you that the general goals of mural and graffiti artists are similar. However, I feel like there are key differences between the two. Sadly, I know almost nothing about murals or graffiti, but I feel as though the huge problem with graffiti art is that it is illegal... I do agree with you that both artists are trying to convey their ideas and thoughts to the public through their art and that they are similar in that sense. I feel like they are different though because murals are normally more realistic and planned out while graffiti is more cartoony and spontaneous. Artists who make murals are also normally formally trained and have the right or consent to do their art, where graffiti artists are still extremely talented and as you said, self-taught, but they do not have the property owner's consent to make their art. I like both types of art although I do not know much about either kind so let me know if I am wrong about anything. Both types of artists are amazing and I wish I could experience this kind of art more.

Blog Post 7- Mural Thoughts

I was completing this weekend's discussion questions and found the questions on murals to be intriguing so why not write about some of my thoughts for my blog post this weekend. I have not actually seen any murals in person to my knowledge, which is very sad. One of the questions was what is a mural, and I thought that a mural was a work of art completed on a permanent surface, such as a wall or ceiling. The one example I could think of was the Sistine Chapel. I remembered having to do a project on it my junior year of high school in World History class and found some of the murals pretty interesting. I am pretty sure the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are considered to be murals, if not, they should be. 

I specifically remember one of the images and murals from the Sistine Chapel being pretty powerful and interesting to me. It is the one about the origin of sin and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. By the way, Michelangelo painted all of these images, and they all are representations of stories from  the Bible. 

The Fall and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

This mural depicts the fall and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. I really enjoy Michelangelo's representation of this scene from the Bible and the powerful imagery he uses in this picture. Obviously, one of the most salient features of this mural is the snake-like human, or the human-like snake (whatever you think). This image is also kind of divided into thirds, and it displays two different scenes and times simultaneously. The leftmost third of this image shows Adam and Eve before the fall, created in God's image, perfect and pure. It shows them falling into temptation and taking from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the one thing God specifically said not to do... In the middle third is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and a snake-like human creature reaching out to Eve. One of the most interesting parts of this image is definitely this creature wrapping around the tree with the body of a snake. Then, the rightmost third of the mural depicts Adam and Eve again, being banished from the garden by the cherub who is pointing the way out with a sword-like thing. Notice how before the fall, Adam and Eve were brighter colors and after the fall, they turned to darker colors. I believe this represents the sin that occurred and the change that will no be eternal. Also, in the left of the picture, the background behind Adam and Eve is rocks and leaves while the right side is barren, because of the fall and the sin that Adam and Eve committed. Another point that may be significant, is that the tempter in the middle, has female-like characteristics. This might be because of the fact that Eve was the one that was tempted first and gave the apple to Adam. I really enjoy this depiction of a very important scene from Genesis Chapter 3 of the Bible which I am familiar with. There is a lot more symbolism in this mural that you can probably see as well. I really enjoy the symbolism and powerful imagery that Michelangelo uses in this classic story. 

Although, this is not an image from Latin America, it is the one mural that I could think of that is very interesting to me! I consider this practice for the murals that we are going to look at this coming week. It shows that murals generally use symbolism and powerful pictures to get across their point and to convey the artists ideas. I hope you enjoyed this image as I do and can see the power in this important scene from history. I am excited to see some of the murals from Latin America this week and the ideas that they attempt to convey to the the viewers. 

Reply to Caitlin's Blog 6 Pancho Villa

I really enjoyed that you took the initiative to look up additional information just out of curiosity. I think that is something that a lot of us need to do more. However, of course it is very important to be careful where you get your information...  I found a lot of what you said to be very interesting and saying to myself "Oh! I didn't know that!" Who knew that his name was not actually Pancho Villa, and that he fled to the mountain as a young man and led a group of bandits. I didn't! I also really like how you said that he was a "real life Robin-Hood". I need to try to compare people and different things in reading and history to things that I know really well so that I can comprehend it better. Thank you for posting this interesting information about this interesting and important person that we would not have known about otherwise.

Blog 6 The Underdogs Randomness

In class this week we began to read The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela. I did not really know what to expect from this novel, but when it turned out to be somewhat of a fictional story I was happy! I guess I am just going to talk about what parts of the novel I have enjoyed so far and what I dislike about the novel. As I said, I am happy it is story. Stories are always easier to comprehend which makes the read so much better if I am able to understand and actively picture what is going on. However, parts of this novel are confusing to me because the dialogue. A lot of the time, it is not too specific on who is talking so I have to look back at the beginning of the conversation and follow it line by line to figure it out. I do like, however, the interactions between the characters and the amount of dialogue that occurs between the characters. To me, it keeps it interesting and exciting. When I read, I always try to put myself in the character's position and figure out why they act the way they do, but a lot of the time, my brain is way too different than the characters brain so I just frustrated and ask, "Why would anyone do that...?" For example, the way that Demetrio's band and army treat women and just destroy towns and the homes of innocent people is beyond me. Humans who act like reckless animals always confuse me... Of course, this is a fictional novel and written to prove a point or to convey a main theme, but it still confuses me. It is also interesting to me how Luis Cervantes changes throughout the novel, how he goes from being not so sure about the pillaging to willingly lighting a house on fire. One ironic thing I found is that in the beginning, Demetrio's house was burned down and separated from his family, and later, he is the one destroying the villages and being cruel to innocent people. These are just some of my random thoughts about the novel through parts I and II, as I have a lot of trouble finding connections with the reading and something else, but I hope someone out there got at least one thing out of this random post.

Reply to Alexis's Blog 5

I really like the points you made in this blog and these too are questions I struggle with and ask myself. I feel like we think we have good intentions and believe we are "helping", while acutually we are kind of being selfish. I think a lot of whether or not intervening is right depends on the situation. As your third question states, I feel intervening with a humanitarian crisis is necessary, but that is a good question. How bad does it have to be?... I do not know... All your questions are really good and they make my brain hurt! I agree with you that the US should focus more on its own problems, because we probably have the same problems as other countries if not worse yet we think that our problems are solved and other countries problems are worse. However, we have so many issues it is not even funny. I also really like your point that us intervening and pointing out the problems of other countries really just makes us feel better about ourselves and that our problems are not that bad. These are extremely good questions that need a lot of thought. Thank you for bringing these questions up!

Blog 5- Strenuous Life

The reading this week that I found most interesting and thought provoking was The Strenuous Life. I do not know why but normally I do not really think about history and the importance of it. I never really recognize that society and what the world is like today was because of peoples' actions and efforts in the past. Sounds silly and obvious. Maybe I take a lot of things for granted and do not appreciate or recognize the importance of the past and what brave people did back then that affects me now, but this reading got my brain going a lil bit.

In The Strenuous Life Roosevelt encourages Ameicans to live a strenuous life, obviously. He praises "the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil." This was kind of an interesting idea to me. That life is not supposed to be easy and America did not become what it is today from people sitting on their butts and avoiding the problems of the world. I think this is an important point that Roosevelt is making that many people forget, including me. Usually, I do not enjoy difficult tasks or situations that make me uncomfortable and I avoid them at all costs, but Roosevelt is encouraging people to do the hard tasks and to work hard for what they beleive, because that is what an American does. He also mentions specific people, Lincoln and Grant, and thanks God for their efforts and "iron in the blood of our fathers." I also was curious about that parts where Roosevelt states that the problems of the world and in other countries are the United States' responsibility. I do not know if I agree with this. In some instances, yes, we should intervene if innocent people are dying, but I do not think we are responsible to impose our ideas on other countries as if we are the best and know everything. There are times to intervene and a lot of times to leave the countries be. We had struggles in our history that made us stronger and wiser and other countries might be experiencing similar struggles. We do not need to hold their hand throughout the entire process because they too need to learn from the past as we have.

There are many more points and interesting parts to this reading, but these are a few that I recognized and thought of while reading. Trying to figure out my opinions and what I think about certain topics is a problem I struggle with so I am trying to force myself to take a side and decide what I believe. I am starting to enjoy some of the readings and really trying to appreciate history more by actively thinking about how I am affected by those of the past and how I can contribute and "play a great part in the world."

4th Blog- Cecelia Valdes Randomness

This reading is actually one of my favorites so far in this class! I really enjoy the story-like readings rather than the more informational and educational readings. Specifically, in this novel, I enjoyed the imagery used by Villaverde. As kind of a slow and bad reader (in my opinion), descriptive words and imagery in a reading really helps me picture what is happening rather than just reading boring old words that are strictly informational. I am also starting to enjoy the symbolism that is used by a lot of these writers and am able to pick up on it a little bit better as the semester goes on.

 In Cecelia Valdes, there is a young mulatta girl named Cecelia Valdes (shocking) who is portrayed as beautiful and desirable. At a young age she was very cunning and liked to run off and cause trouble on the streets. She grew up in Cuban society without a mother and father in her life, therefore, she was living with her Grandmother. Throughout the whole story I was curious who her mother was and even more curious to whom her father was. And now that I now that her father is a wealthy slave-trader basically, I am even more curious how she would react to knowing that fact. I also wonder whether or not she will ever actually find out who her father is and meet him face-to-face. This actually just reminded me of Star Wars. Probably a really bad connection and they are completely different but Luke and Cecelia both did not know who their father was and both of their fathers are important, powerful, and wealthy people in society. However, Cecelia's father is obviously not a dark Lord... And many, many, many other differences. I cannot believe I just compared those two. I laugh at myself. I hope we get to read more short stories and story-like readings like this in the future. I really enjoyed how he describes Cuban society in the first few chapters along with how he describes Cecelia. It makes it easy for me to make a picture in my head of Cecelia and what society in Cuba was like at the time. In class we also talked about how Villaverde made Cecelia sounds like she lacks character and is very superficial. To be honest, I did not really pick up on that the first time I read it but I have really been enjoying the group discussions in class. I am getting better at sharing and questioning my ideas along with other people's ideas.

This was a really random blog and I apologize for the randomness. Basically, I really enjoyed Cecelia Valdes and hope to do more story-like readings for this class. Finally, is this story completely fictional and made up by Villaverde? Or was this based off of a real person and story? If so, who is the author in the story. Hopefully we will discuss this in class sometime because I do not know.

Response to Caitlin's 4th Post

I really enjoyed your thoughts on the ending to this novel! I am curious to read how the novel actually ended because this reading actually was really good and interesting to me. I enjoy the short stories/novels way more than the more educational and informational readings (although I know they are necessary and important to read). I agree with you that she needed racial equality and thought that marrying a white man high up in society would help. I bet it might of helped a little but I do not think that Cecelia and Leonardo would last very long seeing that their values are kind of messed up. It is interesting to me how stubborn Cecelia is and how she would only even consider a white man. I agree with everyone else along with you; That there is not much hope for a happy ending. I really enjoyed your alternative ending and creative writing and hopefuly, that is not the way she dies... because that is sad.