America
From talking to people from other countries, their ideas about America aren't really accurate, like it's not stuff that weee all would think about the states but I find that the majority get a picture of either one of two things: Indians, and New York City, so that's what I chose. It's just sort of an iconic thing that I think pretty much everyone could identify as America, even though we all know that this is far from what the rest of America is like. New York is kind of like it's own little country inside the states. It could be a symbol for like, growth and modernism and stuff like that that separate us from other countries!

Song 15

We Didn't Start the Fire: Billy Joel---1989

Great song. Billy Joel lists off events in history to point out that just because there are conflicts and issues we are facing today, it doesn't mean there is something wrong with us or our generation (it still applies even though he is from an earlier generation) The message is that people have always been people since the begining of the world. There have always been conflict and problems in every age and in every civilization and there always will be.
His song also shows how history repeats itself. Wars, persecution, corrupt governments...
It could be used as a history lesson because there are events mentioned in the song that a lot of people may not remember or recognize from history. It makes you curious. He crams a lot of history (1949-1989) into that one song, though. I was going to count, but it seemed pointless.

Song 14

The Hands that Built America: U2---2002

U2 often sings about politcal or other issues in our world, this song included.
Bono reminds us where we all came from. We're not just Americans, we're everything that our history is. We are everyone from every country who ever left their home countries for a new beginning and new hope.
He talks about the struggle to reach the goal that we founded America on.. Liberty and justice for all. 'Of all the promises is this the one we could keep - Of all the dreams, is this one still out of reach'
I think the end is about 9-11 (early Fall, cloud on the New York skyline). , but it's hard to tell what his little symbols mean. What is the 'yellow line'? Maybe its the dividing line between those who don't believe in America (those who want to tear us down) and those of us who are still building America...

Powerful song. It reminds us that we are still creating America's history. We are still building America.

Song 13

The Times They Are A-Changin': Bob Dylan---1964

The song is kind of vague, he's not really specific but it's clear that he's talking about how things in the world around us wont always be comfortable and we won't always be ready but we need to keep an open mind. You can't really fight it. Change will come whether you're ready for it or not. Civil rights, the Vietnam War, and other things were going on when Bob Dylan wrote this song. He was probably speaking to himself as much as to his audience.
I like the message of this song. You never really know what tommorrow is going to bring. If your mind is closed and you're unwilling to consider other people's points of view you'll never grow.

Song 12

Youngstown: Springsteen----1995

It sounds like the steel mill in the song was first built in 1803 and was used to make cannon balls during the civil war. Then the singer's dad worked there and made tanks and bombs for WW2. The singer found himself working under the same brutal conditions in the same mill. He feels like he will die there. He doesn't feel anyone knows or cares about the suffering they have all gone through. What was it all for?

The ending was poetic but probably no one but the writer really knows what "I pray the devil takes me to stand in the fiery furnaces of hell" is supposed to mean. The song is depressing.
Suffering shows up again in America's history.

Song 11

A Change is Gonna Come: Seal---1963

The song, to me, is talking about the frustration black people had to experience after seeing slavery end but not prejudice and segregation. It's a very hopeful song because even though he describes the hardships, he keeps repeating that he expects to see a change one day. He faces the day and crosses boundaries with hope, knowing that he might get knocked down today but one day he'll be treated like every other man.
The song is in story form kind of, sung in the present tense as the singer is living the problem. I don't really like the song.
I'm glad to say that America has moved beyond segregation and most people are enlightened to the equality of every person whatever race or gender.

Song 10

Strange Fruit (1939) Single Version-Billie Holliday---1939

What a sick song. But it keeps the truth of America's past in our memory. Everyone knows about slavery and the brutality black people suffered because of their "owners". But even after slavery ended, black Americans' suffering didn't stop.
Abel Meeropol describes the 'strange fruit' dangling from the trees. It makes me want to vomit. The fruit is a disgusting metaphor for black people who were lynched during the post slavery years and for generations after. Like fruit, these people would swing and hang from the branches of the trees. Like fruit, their flesh would be there for hungry birds to pluck. Like fruit, their bodies would rot in the sun. it's so sad and gross.

Song 9

Do Re Me (live): Ani DiFranco ---1937

Another Woody song... at least someone else sings this one. What the heck is the 'do re me'??? Do as in "doe"? Are they talking about having money to survive if you leave to escape the dust bowl? It is told as the person is experiencing it. They left to get away from the dust bowl, but it doesn't sound like there is alot of hope in California if you don't have any moolah.
Each verse kind of just says the same thing in another way. Basically, without money, you are screwed. Not an uncommon story in American history.

Song 8

Jesus Christ: Woody Guthrie---1940

I didn't konw they had redneck music in the 40's (they wrote this song for Joe!) The lyrics are meaningful but the music is pretty much unbearable. Guthrie tells the ancient story we all know but he uses common, everyday language. As he refrains 'and they laid Jesus Christ in the grave' he sings it in an upbeat tune... which is kind of weird. But millions of Christians have sung the very same phrases. Maybe he is upbeat because of the message of what it means that Jesus went to the grave - for us.
You don't have to like the song to appreciate the message. Guthrie does give witness through his song. I guess everyone worships in their own way.
It doesn't really teach you anything about America's history, but you can't forget that
America started with people who wanted to worship in their own way. Amen

Song 7

Paddy's Lament-Sinead O'Connor

Sinead O'Connor's version of this song is almost a wail.
Obviously she's playing the part of a guy as she tells the story of an Irish immigrant who left his homeland for the promises America had to offer. He left hunger and poverty behind for the 'streets paved with gold'.
To his sorrow, he is given a weapon and told to go and fight for his new country during the Civil War. His heart is heavy and he wishes with all his heart that he could just go back and start over back in Dublin. He knows that so many other Irish people will face the same fate... but he just wishes with all his might that he could keep them from that fate.
We see America at war, this time through one who came here full of hopes and dreams, but he found nightmares. It's a really sad song but the more I listened to it, I have it on repeat as I make this blog post, the more I like it.

Who in the world would have this as their ringtone?!

Song 6

Hard Times Come Again No More---1854

It uses evocative language. Personally, I thought it sounded like it came straight from the heart of a slave during the civil war sung from her perspective, to me she was saying that she knew they were going suffer until they died and theeen their suffering would be over but then there's a part in the lyrics that mentions a 'pale sorrowed maiden', is it talking about a white person? Reading deeper, I understood that suffering was everywhere and even though some people had it better off, few were spared sorrow and people had to lean on each other. There is a hint of hope though.

I'm tired of listening to sad songs!

Song 5

Johny Has Gone for a Soldier

I can't tell when this song was written. When I first heard this it kind of confused me. Did Johny leave her for a soldier? The second time I listened to it I took it more seriously. Her Johny, who was with her and loved her, went away to war. It's a real situation, like dear John letters, and other stuff that happens in war, that lots of women lose their love of their lives. The song sounds really country, but I think it's cute. Really it could be a story from any war. Countless men leave wives and families out of duty or because they want the glory. Sometimes they have to. Throughout the US's history this same story plays itself out over and over again.

Song 4

Brave Wolfe---1997

I'm not sure when the original song of this came out but it kind of tells a story about General Wolfe without using words. Without lyrics you're left to your imagination, you can kind of picture a man leaving his wife behind and going off to war, and people riding around on horses blowing trumpets and trying to be noble and stuff like that. Since this version was released in 1997, it's a current view of the event it's about, but I don't know if there's another older version that actually does have lyrics to it. I think it's very very cool when songs can tell stories without words! This is a cool song.

Songs 1-3

Anon: Virgen Madre de Dios/SAVAE
Apache Indian Drums (Sedona)-American Indian Music
Shaman's Call-R. Carlos Nakai

They were probably just celebrating the beauty of their culture and their beliefs. The songs highlight the lives of the Native Americans before Europeans invited themselves to make homes in the Indians' territory.

The soil we claim as our own today was here long before it was "our's". The Native Americans thrived for many generations on this land and they shared it (sometimes unwillingly) with those who wanted to live and raise their families how they felt they should. The Indians are the beginning of the whole American story in the first place.

Mayflower Question

15. I think that the importance of being objective and unbiased for writing a historical account of something was met by the author. No matter what, a history book is going to be a little biased because they teach the things that they think are the most important and leave some things out; it's not like they can tell you every single thing about history that happened. The whole book was a lesson I think to undo some of the generalizations and cliche thoughts most people have about what happened, I didn't really get a moral lesson out of it though.

Mayflower Question

12. To me, neither side could claim moral superiority. Actions speak louder than words; no matter what face either side put on about trying to look like a victim in the situation, or justifying and rationalizing their motives for showing brutality to the other, the truth is both the English and indians had prejudices against the other and acted as violent as they liked.

Mayflower Question

11. I think that some of the tribes probably joined forces with the English because they had enemies that had sided with King Phillip. They were also being opportunistic and sensible; allying themselves with the English might help assure them safety frooom the English, and they probably foresaw English victory. I think I would have done the same thing, if nothing else then out of fear of facing the English.

Mayflower Question

10. The English assumed that an indian was an indian was an indian, which wasn't true. They tried to kill aaall of the indians, when the indians weren't all together. Tribes probably had enough differences between them to make them as differential as the English and New England natives were to each other, but the English didn't look at it that way. If they took time to better understand the dynamics of the relationships between different tribes the English could definitely have used it to their own advantage.

Mayflower Question

9. I think Church showed humility, and acting just like the first pilgrims, didn't put himself so far above the indians to not ask them for help. He showed tolerance for the Indians who had converted and humbled himself to ask for their help. I don't really think that this makes him a hero though. In all likelihood, he probably had a little prejudice against even the indians that he asked help from, but overcame it because he recognized it as something that needed to be done.

Mayflower Question

8. The book lets you relate to the characters somewhat and helps you think of these historical figures as actual people with real emotions and lives and stuff. Movies a lot of times portray indians as stupid and uncivilized because they lived in tents and didn't wear pants and shirts, or exaggeratingly spiritual, wise, nature-y people. This book shows how smart they really were, and that people are pretty much the same in that they can all be power-hungry and sneaky to get what they want. Squanto is a good example, from all of the planning and deceiving he did, it really humanizes him. The only cliche indian characteristic I can think of as pretty realistic is their use and connection of nature.

Mayflower Question

6. The sons and daughters of the first pilgrims didn't have to work for what they had. They became arrogant and got a sense that they deserved everything, like they forgot what got them where they were in the first place! They were proud of themselves without reason. I think the reputation was earned and entirely deserved, not a self-full filing prophecy. People made the judgement based on the second generation's behavior not the other way around.

Mayflower Question

5. Squanto was really smart. He charmed his way into being close to Bradford and he was already close with Massasoit so that he had large influences over them. His power-hungry motives would be his downfall. He played on fears of both sides, especially when he told Massasoit the story about the plague the pilgrims kept in their barrels, actually full of gunpowder. When he told the sachem that the pilgrims could release the plague at will, he was taking advantage of being the only one that could speak both languages fluently. He used this to his extreme advantage. But for all of his little plotting, when things turned unexpected and left the sachem Massasoit, not himself, in charge of the area. Things would have been different between pilgrims and the natives and who knows how the world would be today.

Mayflower Question

4. The original pilgrims' complex relationship with the indians depended a lot on their early reliance on the tribes for survival. Free of this dependence, the second generation were not as respectful. They undid so much of what their parents worked for by taking on an heir of undeserved superiority. Two other things that lead to King Phillip's war, and the end of peace between the pilgrims and indians, were massive purchase of indian land by the settlers and the unfair trial regarding the man's dead body that was thrown in the frozen lake. I think the peace could've continued, had the second generation pilgrims been acted a little more humbly towards their indian neighbors.

Mayflower Question

3. Since no one here was around back then, we rely on written descriptions of the events from people like Bradford that were there. The stories have been Hollywood-ed up since then and made more interesting. Things were built up and made to sound special because it was more inspirational than truer accounts of what had happened. It could almost be looked at as a form of propaganda. I think stories like the First Thanksgiving have been exaggerated to make you feel proud to be an American. I'm sure it's also like the Pocahontas story that was changed a ton, because the version we made up was more romantic and entertaining.

Mayflower Question

1. The pilgrims were steadfast in their faith; this took them very far. It kept their spirits up in the hardest of times. They had humility in that they didn't think themselves too good to receive help from the native people. They showed extreme perseverance throughout the whole story. They continued to attempt survival, instead of just giving up, in the beginning when so many of them had been lost to disease and they faced constant fear of Indian attacks. They were good at adapting to their new surroundings for both moves, both to Holland and America. The only traits that turned out to work against them later was the second generation's laaack of humility which would later contribute to the build up of King Phillip's war and it also worsened the pilgrims relations with future settlers because of their sense of superiority and religious intolerance.

Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a big international issue. It is the trading of people (for forced sex or labor) for a profit to the trafficker (not the victim). There is a difference between this and kidnapping; kidnapping does not always entail slavery-type actions. The numbers of trafficked humans that are victimized is growing because traffickers face little consequence. Victims in remote places of the world have a harder time of escape because of a lack of 'social networks, but this happens in America too.

Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign
Human trafficking is slavery; there are more than twenty seven million slaves today. Globalization is making it easier for human trafficking to continue because of the 'ease of conducting business across national borders.' When children are taken for sex trafficking, it is a mistake to blame them; they are the victims but a lot of people like to think of them as the criminals because they view them as prostitutes. Traffickers target teens. Children aren't always taken from their homes, they are sometimes sold to traffickers by their own parents. Terror and violence are used to keep children under control and to to keep them from trying to escape. There are already many international laws being made about trafficking.

Sex Slaves
Human trafficking happens everywhere. A 16-year-old in Florida was tricked into slavery by another 16-year-old girl. Her attackers were never charged with anything. There was another story about a woman who was taken from her house a couple of times a week to be forced to have sex; the one's that took her were boys from her high school. Her lawyer told "Today" that cases like these are very common. Today, there is a huge market for sex slavery on the Internet; sex slavery takes many forms though.

Orphaned children are primary targets
Trafficking of humans is one of the fastest growing transnational organized crimes. Boys are at risk for it too. STD's are being spread more quickly because of the conditions these sex and labor slaves are put under. Slaves don't receive very much protection against STD's or medical attention when they get them.

Child sex slave
The UNODC (United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime) is an organization that helps the fight against human trafficking, especially of women and children. The main goals of this program are to prevent further human trafficking, punish it's true criminals, and to help restore the lives of trafficked victims. There are a lot of international legal things that go on here, it is set up by the United Nations.

Human trafficking is an international problem for many reasons. It's an issue that virtually all countries share with each other; each have their own laws regarding this problem though. In my research I found out that human traffic crimes don't get reported enough and that there isn't enough action taken on them. One of the reasons that this crime is growing, besides high profit and demand, is that it is easy to get away with. It will take international cooperation of upgrading laws regarding this heinous crime and taking steps to prevent it. It spreads STD's, and leaves people in a cycle of disaster because they are, though victims, looked at as the criminals. There are many international things at work here and people can't stop working together on this modern day form of slavery stops.

I've learned leaders in many nations of the world face complex problems that they feel cannot be solved without international action or cooperation

Ugandan Orphans
We don't walk through our front doors and have to worry about getting shot or kidnapped 24-7, a lot of people do though. They have tremendously stressful and scary living conditions that they live under in places like Uganda and Palestine. In Uganda Joseph Kony is taking children away from their homes and turning them into child soldiers. Palestinian children are in a social environment that encourages their martyrdom and are put into violent and dangerous situations every day. It's too easy to forget how hard and awful others have it on the other side of the world when we're sitting in our safe, comfortable houses in America. We have soldiers in Iraq yeah, but we have a stable government that helps run the country smoothly, there aren't wars happening in our back yards, and there's no one here invading our country. These are things that we can nooot forget just because we have it so good here, we should never just get all complacent about these issues and let the rest of the world fall by the wayside. There are other less pressing issues that happen around us; they are very common issues to all countries, which makes it such a good reason for our countries to work together (have national cooperation and action). Drugs, human trafficking, other crimes, environment, and territory are concerns that every country shares. Palestine and Uganda are two third-world countries whose governments are not as stable as ours. They aren't stable enough to protect themselves from the bad things that are happening there and that's why they need international help. Some issues are too big for one country to handle by themselves and could be contained from spreading with the help of others. It is very important that we don't only think about bad things that happen in the Middle East because that could make us think of the people there as being bad.

Ugandan President

I understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed through analysis of primary sources of many kinds

For something to be a primary source, it would be created during the time that you're looking at. Examples include letters, diaries, posters, documents, and other artifacts. Primary sources can be used to prove certain things that have happened. They also, most importantly, give an inside look at what was going on during that time. These reasons are what make primary sources better than others. Text books and other secondary sources like that get most or all of their information from primary sources. Primary sources are necessary for us to understand things that happened before us. If in 100 years a class was given a project to research the 2000's then the things that we write and make and record would be primary sources to them because we are the one's living now.

"The White Man's Burden"
This is a Pear's Soap advertisement printed during the New Imperialism. It shows the general attitude of the West at the time, claiming that "teaching the virtue of cleanliness is the first step towards lightening 'The White Man's Burden.'" It goes on to talk about 'brightening the dark corners of the earth.' I know that this website is credible because of the -.org ending, the article's author cites all of their information, and he lists his credentials at the top.

"White Man's Burden"

This is artwork from the 1800's. It displays that same old idea of the white man's burden, because it was such a prominent aspect in people's lives back then, but this time directed at Japanese people. There were many cartoons like this, white people pretty much looked down on everyone else. The website is an appropriate source, you can tell because it is professional-looking and has a -.org ending.

British India---1850's

This photograph was taken in India, back when the British were pretty much running the country and had colonies all over the place, a perfect example of New Imperialism. The British had colonies in other places too. I found the website is an appropriate source because of the -.net ending and the professionalism of the website, it has a huge old gallery of other pictures. I thought this other picture fit very well but I couldn't find a good source for it. The British man is in India, getting a pedicure from some of his Indian servants. It gives a really good picture of how white people thought of others.

A British Man Gets a Pedicure from an Indian Servant

See Malaya This was a travel poster urging British people to go see their colony in Malaysia. The colony was a major source of money and natural resources for the British. To make people want to go there, it was portrayed as tropical and vacation-y. The picture is of a 'native' Malaysian. The British had their colony there during their quest for power and land in the New Imperialism. The -.org website looks reliable enough to use for a source, it looks professional and it doesn't have advertisements or anything.

I have become more knowledgeable about the World

A child soldier in Uganda

I am more knowledgeable about current events and global issues. The child army in Uganda is one of the current global issues we learned about in class, and it's been going on since the '80's. The LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) is a group in Uganda, opposed to its government, whose leader, Joseph Kony, kidnaps children and brainwashes them into child soldiers. They are taken at an impressionable age and exposed to violence and hatred so that they turn into tiny brutal killers who grow up to kidnap more children and try to overthrow places in Africa where the government is weak. Today, escaped ex-LRA soldiers are being recruited by the Ugandan government to track Kony down, where they think he's not only hiding but expanding his army. Uganda could use international help with resulting problems it's about to face: its new generation. These kids, even escaped, have been exposed to such bad things since they were little, it's all they know. You couldn't be put through the things they're put through on a daily basis and grow up without a warped perception of how things are supposed to be. They're going to need attention to enable them to prevent these problems from reoccurring when they're the grownups.

The World in the Twentieth Century

I have become more knowledgeable about the history of the Twentieth Century. The Industrial Revolution was just about over when the twentieth century started, but it still had a huge affect on the world after its time. The 1900's saw some of the worst wars and disasters in history but it also saw some amazing progress and advances. Nationalism played such a humongous role in how the world turned out---acting as a catalyst in times of war but also providing the competition and motivation for the progress that was made. We studied other things more in depth, like Japanese culture, WWI topics, and power hungry leaders in the New Imperialism (in a mostly Western-dominated world.) Fascism, invented by Mussolini, involves loyalty to state, violence, discipline, and dictatorship. It also, like communism, puts individual rights second to loyalty to the state. Both of them came into existence when the world was under economic stress. Totalitarianism also involved having a dictator. It used police spies and terror, and had lots of strict control of media and what got taught in schools. Nazism, another ideology, is totalitarian, anti-communist, and anti-Semitic. All of these came into existence during the twentieth century and brought a bunch of problems with them; they had a lot of involvement in all of the wars that happened.

All humans have a 99.9 % similar genetic content
I have become more knowledgeable about human diversity. What is race? It's not really quantifiable, tangible, or definable. Race is self-decided, pretty much. When census takers come to your door and ask what race you are it's not like they go back to their little offices and do a background check on you. A person's race is not something you can tell just by looking at them. "Race" hasn't even been a thing forever, it's something humans MADE UP and there is nothing scientific about it at all. Labeling people is what lets us un-humanize them. It has lead to tragic catastrophes like the Holocaust and slave-owning.

Jared Diamond, Author of GG&S

I am more knowledgeable about places on the Earth. To be "geographically lucky", a country would have these:

-Food-producing plants. All it took to grow wheat was a flick of the wrist, and that provided a lot of food. Not all countries are hospitable to this type of vegetation, which would give others a head start back in the day when nations were still developing

-Domesticable animals. These help with manual labor, manure, food, leather, and exposure to disease (creating immunity over time). There were no horses here when the Spanish conquered the Incas, it increased their advantages a lot

-Easily accessible land. This ensures the spreading of ideas, such as weapons from other cultures, and natural resources

-Natural resources. The Spanish's (copied) steel Rapierre gave them even higher advantage over the Incas, who still used bronze weapons

All of these things contributed to the global inequality today, where we have such extreme differences in standards of living between countries.

Cultures of the World

I have become more knowledgeable about cultures of the world's societies. A lot of cultures are very specific to their country or people. There isn't a lot that different cultures share. It is important to learn about and respect the cultures of other's, even if it differs from our own, as does the culture of the Japanese. The Japanese hold Wa, or harmony, very important to them. An important aspect of this is called "saving face", which means to do everything in your power to keep someone from being embarrassed. The Japanese stress importance on being accepted in the group, even if that means conforming, as opposed to individuality how we like it in America. Lots of little social rules can make a huge difference (like avoiding public flattery and sensitive or personal topics.) There are other things too. I'm a member of a military family who's been overseas. When we got to Germany there were a lot of rules about staying under the radar, trying not to stick out so that we wouldn't draw attention to the Army or Americans. One of the reasons is that Americans are already thought of pretty negatively by some people in European countries. When you're in a foreign country, you're representing your own. If you went to another country acting like an idiot, people could associate the things that you messed up with Americans in general. Everyone should just keep an open mind and have respect for people that are different than them. It could make or break a business deal, but it could also affect you personally.

Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End a War

The article is about the Ugandan government recruiting ex-L.R.A. to help end the war in their country. Most of the people fighting to find the main war criminals (like Joseph Kony) are one's that were taken as children and forced to fight for him so they're all happy to help probably and are good for the job because they "know all of his tricks". Joseph Kony tries to take over places in Africa where government is weak and he thinks that he's been possessed. He's been causing trouble since the eighties, so like thirty-ish years. When the places he lives become peaceful he just moves again with his little army but a bunch of them have been caught. The soldiers looking for Kony are having a really hard job in the woods where they think he's hididng but they stay to do it anyways. An ex-L.R.A man said that he doesn't think Kony is just running away; he's probably rebuilding his army.

Current World Issue: Morocco

I am here as a representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to talk about the pressing issue of illegal trafficking and marketing of drugs from my country into Western Europe. We are really trying to buckle down and improve our existing laws on all of the illegal exportation going on here; we understand the problems this can cause for Europe and want to make it clear that we will do everything in our power to prevent conflict. We ask that all involved parties do the same. It is the belief of King Mohammed VI that upping lawful punishment for drug offences will shake these criminals' confidence and hopefully intimidate them into doing the right thing. A second course of action would be strengthening our control on what leaves the country. We are looking for ways to improve our "customs" at airports and ship-docks. Some of the more common illegal substances we've been dealing with are Hashish, Cannabis (used for Marijuana), and Cocaine, so, authorities be on the lookout for these. This is going to take cooperation on both of out parts.

My Japan Project Plan (it rhymes)

My project will cover the inhumane slaughter of whales and dolphins in Taiji, Japan (and other Japanese towns.) The presentation's going to be in power point form and the targeted audience can just be people in my town that I'm trying to get to sign a "Save the Dolphins" petition and spread public awareness. It's going to cover---
1. How they kill the whales and dolphins (this needs to be included because the brutality of the method used is what's causing most of the controversy)
2. Why they do it, so far in my research I've come across:
-traditional/cultural reasons
-economic reasons
-and "pest control"
3. The documentary "The Cove" and disputes it's causing
4. Health issues (high levels of mercury in the meat)
5. I need to do more research but I'm going to make one point of my presentation the Japanese opinion

Old Time-y Olympics

Way back when, the Greeks played the reeeal Olympics, the ones we copy today. A lot was the same, they held them every four years, something we still do today. They played sports in their Olympics, but it was also a competition of music and Greek literature. Races, discus throws, javelin throws, long jumping, boxing, wrestling, and chariot racing were some of the sports they did. I don't know too much about the ones we have today. We have more more modern sports and most of them are individual. When that empire was declining, their games stopped and didn't pick back up again until the late 1800's. Olympic games used to be all jumbled up into one group and meant only for amateurs but now we have them separated into seasons and professionals can play in them too. It's a really big international thing now and there's even Special Olympics for disabled people to compete in. We have so so so many sports to compete in: archery, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, equestrian sports, fencing, field hockey, soccer, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, triathlon, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, wrestling, biathlon, ice hockey, lueging, skeleton sledding, snowboarding, ice skating, skiing, and bobsledding. (That list came off the website.) One of my favorite movies is Cool Runnings :)

Motivation to Climb a Mountain

The main characters of the movie had different motivations. The American one climbed to the top, no oxygen tank, "for the challenge". How stupid! He was a newly-wed, but aaaanyways. The lady did it because she loved to climb, that was her motivation I think, but it also made her feel good to be the first Spanish lady to summit the mountain. Norgay did it to fulfill a calling he had in his heart; he wanted to do what his father had. (His dad was the one that lead the first successful expedition to the top but he never got credit for it until way later). Near the end, Norgay prays on his little flags and he was at peace with having accomplished his life dream. He also gets the monastery to light all of the candles to thank their God for letting him get to the top safely. The others just hugged everyone at "base camp" and jumped around. I also noticed that Norgay left pictures of his family at the top, like, making it up there was really really important to him, you could tell because he got emotional when he talked about it.

Exploring Extremes

This is the how the moon looks at the North Pole, ain't it beautiful?
Roald Amundsen's team was the first to reach the South pole, which they did on December 14, 1911. A couple of years before that, on September 5, 1909, Robert Peary said that he had reached the North Pole, but it's disputed if he actually did or not. Mallory and Irvine were two climbers who attempted to summit Mt. Everest and may or may not have reached the top, they were seen very close to it then lost from sight and either died on their way back down or died before reaching the top, nooobody knows. On May 29, 1953 Sir Edmund Percival Hillary completed the journey fosho:)



There are sooo so many people that like doing extreme things like climbing everest, I can't fathom why though. I suppose they do it for the adrenaline or maybe they want credit for being bada_ _? It seems like more guys like doing those kinds of things, maybe they're trying to prove how man they are. From the articles I read, the country of which the mountain climbers came from is always mentioned and most of them talked about "the race" of being the first to the poles and the top of Everest, which to me shows that this thing was country-competition and probably very nationalistic. I would never throw my life away for a sport or fame or anything like that, but I don't think that too many people are counting on losing they're lives, they're just doing something they love. That would be the only way to do something so physically hard, but it's really not worth losing a life over to me. Maybe if I was old already or something and I didn't have very much time left, it could be one of those "I've always wanted to...." things.

More Than 100 Years Later, the World I Live In Still Displays the Impact of the New Imperialism

New Imperialism had many impacts on the world. One of the main things that happened in this time was the spread of Western civilization and modernization of the countries involved. Christianity can be found in the places where it was spread to.

Positive Effects of the New Imperialism

New Imperialism had lots of good things to it. In the first place, missionaries got to spread Christianity. Countries with bad-ish and unfair governments could benefit from learning about democracy and stuff like that, it helped them get their freedom and independence in some cases, like if they learned about nationality. The West was way ahead in their living conditions because of the Industrial Revolution so they could help other people to get to that quality of life, as they did when they spread their medicines laws and schools and stuff like that. (But for the West to look down on countries like as children was the wrong thing.) I'm sure when Britain took over all those countries in Africa it helped out their own economies and it helped them get more power in the world but there's no way that I personally could call that an effect that was positive because of the negative ones it brought to the people in the countries they were controlling. Besides that though, the British helped like, in India they built railroads and regular roads and they helped communication out a lot by putting their own postal and telegraph systems.

Negative Effects of the New Imperialism

There were so many negative effects of the New Imperialism. People were pretty much fighting over land and power gain, it actually cost them lots and lots of lives, which is awful:( It's horrible to think that people kill one another over that. There are some specific instances too that New Imperialism was bad. When the British had colonies in India, they had an unequal partnership in trading that was in Britain's favor. The British ruined India's hand-weaving industry and they caused a major famine due to deforestation and population growth. When some people are taken over and they want to get independence they'll fight for it of course, like in the boxer rebellion, and they will die for it. Just the loss of human dignity (when missionaries and people looked down on other groups as children) and when people were forced to lose their culture and freedom, like having someone else in control of their country, are all negative.

What was "the New Imperialism?

The West dominated the world in the 1800's when the New Imperialism started. Europe was getting a better economy because of the Industrial Revolution and they had stronger governments than they used to; this was why they were able to expand. Those power gains and all of the other affects of the Industrial Revolution (better technology and better military) are what made this imperialism new. Europe's three main reasons were 1. economic interests---overseas they could get more resources and markets to sell their products, 2. political and military interests---this meant that gaining land gave some countries a better sense of nationalism and pride in their country (it gave them more prestige) and because the military needed bases for their warships and things like that, and 3. the humanitarian goals---some westerners felt "the white man's burden", that it was their responsibility to help and take care of the uncivilized people they took over, and also to spread Christianity. Also, to an imperialist, having the ability to take over a group of people showed that one had racial superiority over them. Imperialistic rule was usually in one of these three forms: colonization, having a protectorate, or having a sphere of influence. Not that Europeans didn't have trouble taking over all of those places, they did sometimes meet resistance but none of the people they were taking over were able to stand up to Europe's machine guns and warships. Europe was very successful in their expansion.

Results On The Sorting People Quiz

That little quiz I just took was hard as could be! I literally only put three of the pictures in the right groups. "Appearance doesn't always tell you about someone's ancestry or self-identity. It's hard to make accurate predictions based on appearance alone"---the website put this in the box with my quiz results, I agree one thousand percent. I can't believe all those awful 1-8 facts we were supposed to take notes on. From what I gather, "race" is practically fake, it's like, we inveeented the thing. I don't know why people would put any stock into it at all. I happen to know a little bitty bit about Rwanda and the civil war they fought was one of the saddest things I've ever heard---the people that invaded their country, like, MADE UP the two groups Hutus and Tutsis (sp?), they didn't even exist! They had one of those groups in charge then when they were leaving the country they left the ooother group in charge, and the country fell to pieces. Seriously, they fought over something that wasn't even real :( I think it's ridiculous, but the facts on the website are very very useful to know and could probably help some people get racism out of their hearts, especially when sooo much of it I think probably comes from "sheltered" experiences and lack of exposureee to things in the world and knowledge, stuff like that.