Blog Twelve

Look how cute we are! :D

Not going to lie, at first when I found out I would be taking a class for an entire year I was like yeah this is going to be horrible there is no way I can handle a class that lasts alllll year! But honestly, this was one of my favorite classes, and I am happy I got to spend the year with all of you in it, I know many of us will continue our friendships outside of class, and some of you are my closest friends I have at GVSU, so that's pretty awesome!

So, as far as my opinion on the class and what I have learned, I would say the class was extremely challenging, and that I learned more about Latin America than I did in all my other years in high school or middle school for that matter. Second semester was more challenging for me, because of all the wars and revolutions we learned about. It was all really interesting, but I had a hard time keeping all of the different names, locations, and dates straight! I do feel, however, that Professor Stark and Professor Serrata were more coordinated this semester with their lesson plans, and I found this more helpful, plus it is nice to be able to easily link both parts of the class together. 

My favorite part of the class was when we learned about Mexican muralists, and when we went to Chicago. I want to thank Professor Serrata and Professor Stark for being so awesome and allowing us to be creative! I don't know if I will ever take another class that gives us the opportunity to take dance lessons, go to Chicago, sing along while the professor plays guitar, and make a video all in one semester! I think we have been given a lot of great opportunities to learn about Latin American civilization and culture in less traditional ways, and that type of learning really appeals to me.

I'm going to miss seeing you all every other day! I can tell we're all going to do something great with our lives :) Have an amazing summer everyone! I'll be chillin', and I hope you will too! :D

My Response to Mitch's Eleventh Blog

I like how you touched more on the Young Lords, and the influence they had in the movement of Latin Equality. I can't imagine being forced to move from my home all because the city wants a new makeover that will hopefully draw what they feel is a "better" crowd into the city. This clearly was just entirely racist and horrible, and I don't understand how anyone could justify actions of kicking innocent people out of their homes and treating them as if it doesn't matter if they have anywhere else to go.

I think it takes a lot of bravery for people to stand up the things that they believe in, especially when they have to stand up to those who are in positions of power. I enjoyed hearing Jose cha cha Jimenez's stories, and I thought it was cool how he described the gang going from just a street gang that may not have had the best intentions, to a gang that became politically involved in the community with hopes to put a stop to what was hurting the people of their neighborhood.

Blog Eleven

After Friday’s discussion in class, I wanted to explain the Lucifer Effect more to everyone, because I believe that this is the single most important factor that contributes to countries such as Argentina and Germany being able to do horrible things. In my opinion, without the aid of the Lucifer Effect, the Holocaust would have never happened, and Argentina would not have experienced so much chaos after Perón’s exile.

These videos are Philip Zimbardo’s explanation of what he has deemed the Lucifer Effect. *Just a warning, they are quite graphic.*

After watching these videos, I felt as though Zimbardo explained why people could do such unspeakable for their country really well. Like Germany, and like Argentina, and other countries around the world, most acts of injustice are being done by subordinates, and not the ones in charge. If people suspect what they are doing is wrong, but they are able to blame their actions on a higher authority (such as Adolf Hitler), they are more likely to commit these unspeakable acts.

My Response to Ian's Tenth Blog

I feel exactly the same as you do when it comes to this poem, and poetry in general! I do remember you mentioning the idea of "eight to four or nine to five", and it being about the work day, which I did not catch at first, but after hearing you say it, it made a lot of sense to me. I like the idea of Neruda inspiring people to do more in a day then just attend their boring jobs and drag their feet because they hate going to work every day and being stuck in the same routine.

I also think it would be really neat to see the ruins of Macchu Picchu in person. I think after taking this class we can really appreciate it more than if we had actually went to the ruins before we took the class. There are a lot of things I have learned about Macchu Picchu I never knew until this year.

Blog Ten

On the Chicago trip we attended April 5th I noticed a huge amount of murals and graffiti in the city, especially on our walk from the restaurant to the bakery. 

Above is some of the artwork we saw, for those of you who were unable to attend. Obviously,   the first and last picture were probably not made for any certain cause (even though they look really fun and brighten up the walls), but the middle picture was a mural created to basically stress the fact that human beings are not aliens, and to ask how it is possible to call a person illegal? 

After the trip I searched the internet to see what other murals can be found in Chicago. I found a website that has several murals listed, as well as where you can find them in the city. 

http://murallocator.org/tag/chicago/

I noticed a mural titled Gulliver en el pais de las Maravillas, which is said to be translated into "Gulliver in Wonderland".

This mural reminded me a lot of The Immigrant's Dream, the American Response, a painting we viewed at the National Museum of Mexican Art.

I found these two pieces to be similar, first because of the fact both people in these paintings are bound in barb wire. Like the class said at the Museum, it seems like the immigrant is trapped. It can be argued that both paintings contain aspects of the "American Dream", such as the American flag that represents freedom, and a farm that can represent land ownership, prosperity, and success. The reason both of these works are so powerful is that they show the harsh reality of immigrants' situation in the United States. They feel that the US is supposed to bring freedom and prosperity, but sadly they are subject to restraint and injustice. The message I receive from the paintings is that Mexican immigrants have always fallen short when trying to achieve their goals here in the United States. They have a hard time obtaining what they feel they should be able to.

images from google and my iPod

My Response to Gabrielle's Ninth Blog

I really like the connections you have made to what we have been talking about in class. And can I just say, I just think it is so cool how close you and your family are and all the stories and facts they tell you about Cuba and the way things used to be.

Your grandma sounds like a really educated and driven woman, and I bet it was hard at first when she found out her degree wouldn't be recognized in the United States. I guess it would be all about weighing the pros and cons of moving here, and whether it made more sense to stay in Cuba where her masters degree would have been valid, or to make a new life in the United States, even if it meant starting over and finding a job that was not exactly related to what she had done previously.

I also think it is interesting that your grandfather's farm has been affected by the agrarian reforms. He must have owned a lot of land to be able to notice his farm was smaller than before. I'm curious to know if he owned livestock, and what the size of his farm was when it was at its largest.

Blog Nine

Apparently, being the big hippie that I am, I should have know who Che was last week. After both Professor Stark and Professor Serrata were blown away that I had no clue who he was, I figured I should probably do a bit of research on this guy.

So this was me before my research… pretty clueless. I thought I was a good hippie, but I guess not!

I researched Che on the internet, and the things I found out about him were really interesting and inspiring. I read that he traveled a lot, and saw people who were suffering from hunger, poverty, and disease, and it really bothered him. He was from Argentina, but he tried to help people all over Latin America, including those in Guatemala and Cuba. I just really like it when someone believes something is wrong, and they stop at noting to try and fix the problem. It really is not all that hard to notice a problem, but to actually try and come up with a solution and take action is the important thing. 

Che wanted to improve literacy rates, get people jobs, find ways to feed people, and more. He fought in battles using guerrilla warfare tactics, and when he was fighting in war, I read that he was actually allergic to mosquitos, so when he was bit by a ton of them he said it was "the most painful days if the war". Che's ideas and actions were influenced by Marxism, which makes sense to me, considering the fact that he was involved in Cuba's affairs when Fidel was in charge. 

Che did a lot during his lifetime, and theres no way I could accurately cover this all in my blog. I do see now why it was so surprising that I had no idea who Che was, because now I am like why did I just now find out about him? I really do think he had a lot of good in his heart, and even though he methods were not always as peaceful as they could have been, he was fighting for the right cause, and he wasn't afraid to fight for what he thought was right.