War

In Maplewood on Saturday, people gathered to observe the 6th anniversary of the war in Iraq. They acknowledged the deaths of many soldiers who died, and many people spoke briefly of the past six years. I think if you were personally affected by the war or had some family members killed in the war, it would be hard to attend a ceremony like this one. Its nice how they can make gatherings like this one to pay respect to those who have fought in the war. Many were stressing to support Obama's means to end the war and return our soldiers home.

http://maplewood.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/memories-of-war-and-hopes-for-peace/?scp=7&sq=war&st=cse

Introduction / Conclusion

Genocide is any act intended to destroy or harm any ethnic or racial group. Imagine a government intruding, and taking over like in the book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. Instead of the government changing their religion, they try to change ethnicity. Ethnicities can’t be converted. These groups of people are so called “cleansed”, or wiped out. With previous genocides, people were never going to let this happen again. But of course, it has slipped between the fingers of society. The controlling government is causing deaths and other problems to the aid workers and the government in this genocide.

Worldwide the war in Darfur is being ignored or pushed aside, like many genocides in the past. Something has to be done. Many organizations have been made to help fight for Darfur. Be the bigger person, make a difference. Donations can be made, even passing along the word helps. Many are not aware of the horrible actions being held in Darfur, letting them know makes a difference. There are local groups to join, events to attend, many opportunities to help out. With many continuous years of war, its time to put an end to this genocide.

Bollywood

Indian art is considered much different than movies we're used to. They explore more areas of Indian culture, and use less glitz and glam. I like the way certain cultures can express themselves by creating their own movies to show the rest of the world. More cultures should do this. I'm sure that certain countries have documentaries of their culture, or short films, but the Bollywood idea was genius. It really shows a fun way to show of their culture and rituals to others. I also think that Hollywood movies could include more cultural movies. They could make an Indian movie even. It would really show that we have wide cultural horizons.

http://www.indianetzone.com/2/indian_artistic_cinema.htm

Darfur Cause and Effect Map

Global Issue / Darfur

Darfur is a global issue, involving everyone. Even with today's technology, we aren't all aware of what is happening with the genocide in Darfur. This terror all started in 2003 and still continues today. A quarter million civilians have fled from these territories, now faced with diseases, rape, starvation, and death. We can all make a difference to help these people. We can make the world a difference, around the world. It isn't write for all of the genocides to keep repeating themselves, do we never learn? People need to be aware of these actions, so it doesn't happen again, but for the moment we can all help. We can learn about this tragedy, and spread the word. We CAN make a difference.

http://www.thegritsbookclub.com/bookreviews/?p=299

Holidays / Darfur

While many children around the world are celebrating over winter holidays, the children of Darfur are simply wishing to stay alive. Being a child in Darfur is quite scary, with 40 cases of children under 5 reporting having a sexually transmitted disease. All they want for the holidays is to have a better, safer, less dangerous life. With the genocide all around them the children hope that they and their family can get through, and return to normal life. But Santa has forgotten about them...

http://darfurneedsu.blogspot.com/2007/12/no-holiday-for-children-of-darfur.html

Culture

Around the world there are many different kinds of cuisines, for people from different cultures or regions around the world. The reason different parts of the world have different foods or ways of life is because they have to use the resources around them to survive. Different parts of the world have different resources. People of different cultures also have different ways of preparing food. I find it interesting how there are so many ways to prepare food, and how delicious they all taste. Different cultures use different seasonings and different utensils.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/foods/culture.html

I was also interested in when foods were discovered or invented. I found this really neat food time line that list most foods and when they were invented. It goes back to before 100,00 BC from the time of only ice and water. When people slowly discovered new foods, and started experimenting with different foods, new foods were created. This list even goes up to modern day, like today when deep fried lattes and deep fried Coco Cola were invented.
http://www.foodtimeline.org/

Change

I found an interesting text about climate, and all the changes that are occurring. It talked about many of the changes this planet is facing. The climate is such a vital part of our world, many of us take this for granted. Too much burning of fossil fuels, and green house gases are heating our earth surface. Many of us are aware of this, but very few of us tend to be doing anything about this. Luckily the United States has now developed a Climate Policy, to reduce the growth of admissions, and promote climate control technology. The climate is affecting everyone; plants, animals, people, etc. There are so many things we can do, even as little as recycling and picking up after our selves can really make a difference. If we really try, we could make a huge impact on this planet, and change the way our planet is changing for the better.

Hope

I found a poem about hope that I really liked.

Hope by Emily Bronte

Hope was but a timid friend;
She sat without the grated den,
Watching how my fate would tend,
Even as selfish-hearted men.
She was cruel in her fear;
Through the bars, one dreary day,
I looked out to see her there,
And she turned her face away!

Like a false guard, false watch keeping,
Still, in strife, she whispered peace;
She would sing while I was weeping;
If I listened, she would cease.
False she was, and unrelenting;
When my last joys strewed the ground,
Even Sorrow saw, repenting,
Those sad relics scattered round;

Hope, whose whisper would have given
Balm to all my frenzied pain,
Stretched her wings,
and soared to heaven,
Went, and ne'er returned again!

This poem is talking about how hope is timid and whispers, and how it would watch her suffer, and not help her. How selfish hope is. It plays tricks on you, you might think hope is on the way, when times are really getting worse. Hope never comes when you want it to come, but when you don't need it. She is saying how hope would have helped her so much, but instead it left her to fend alone.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/emily_bronte/poems/4188.html

Thinking Map

Religion

Rastafarian is a fairly new belief, that has only commonly used in the last century. Its main area of practice is in Jamaica. According to Rastafarian belief the only true God is the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and Ethiopia is the true Zion. Rastafarian's also that white Christians have perverted the script of the bible to conceal the fact that Adam and Eve, and Jesus were black. There rituals include marijuana and reggae music. I think it is really neat how so many people can have different beliefs. There are so many religions out there, i didn't realize how many there were. And how someone can know that and still strongly believe in their religion too, is pretty cool.

http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/txo/rastafar.htm

According to this text, gender is "a costume, a mask, a straitjacket in which men and women dance their unequal dance". Gender is a universal image of our status, based on our world today. Women have had a lower status then man for many years, and according to the bible, men are worth sheikels and women 30. In the same category as racism, sexism follows along. What ever happened to a world of equality? Although a lot has changed now, and women are treated of a higher status, even today women are not treated as equally.

http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/gender.html

Thinking Map

it was in color...