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/