Mayan and/or Aztec Bleifs: Apocalypto

Topic: Beliefs

Source: Saturday, December 11th around 9pm in the dorms with friends


Relation: Observing how the movie "Apocalypto" depicts the beliefs of the Mayan (or Aztec) Culture before the Spanish Colonization 

Description: Last Saturday I watched the movie "Apocalypto" Directed by Mel Gibson. I really liked it, even thought there was some bad reviews. It a story about a young Mayan man, Jaguar Paw, and his journey back to his family and his village which was raided by another tribe who practice human sacrifice. It shows the strong connection the main character has to his wife, son, father, brother, tribe, and forest he lives in. These connections and the overall intensity of this film is why I liked it so much.
On the other hand, "Apocalypto" was very gruesome at some points. They vividly show the attack of many innocent people and the bloody sacrificial practices of the Mayans.

Analysis: I read some of the reviews for "Apocalypto." Most of them were bad because of how Mel Gibson depicted the Mayans. Anthropologists say that the theme of mass human sacrifice was mainly present in the Aztec society rather than the Mayans. All through there has been some evidence of sacrifice, they wouldn't have done this mass execution of villagers, there would have been occasional sacrifices of royalty or elites. There also wouldn't have been a massive pit of dead bodies that was shown in the movie.


Other than the downsides of the movie, it showed a great connection the main character had with multiple things such as his family, tribe, and forest he lived in. I feel like this connection would be much more hard to see in our modern society. I think that, generally, Americans in specific, are raised to be less connected to our families, community, and environment. I think that the life style of the tribes people in the movie showed how in tuned they are to where they live and the people they live with. Nowadays, most American children are brought up with a heavy influence on media and technology to influence us how to act or look or live. The Mayans have to hunt for their food, hand make everything, and work together to have a successful community. Even though the movie showed a gruesome, somewhat not true, view of the Mayans, I think our society would be more peaceful if we all had to work together and harder for our way of living.

Violence at School

Topic: Violence


Source: Tuesday, December 2011 in my photography class, around 8am. Also, December 2 during the robbery


Relation: Observing how violence has changed so many lives and it's relevance throughout history.


Description: I noticed that this week has been filled with cases of violence. The first violent act that occurred was the robbery/assault that happened on campus in the Sunset dorms. Three men tied and beat one other student and then robbed him. I heard around school that they weren't even looking for the man they beat up but his roommate and that they broke the victims ribs and arm then ran away.

While also learning about violence in Anthropology class, I continued to view violence in my Photography class. We often watch short videos or documentaries about WeeGee, a Photographer in the depression era who lived in New York and became famous for his pictures of violence, mainly gang violence in New York. This documentary we watched showed how WeeGee was scared for life from the pictures h took and the life style he had to live to be able to capture these pictures.

One of WeeGee's most famous pictures of a shooting

Biography of the photographer WeeGee:
http://www.biography.com/people/weegee-40873 


Analysis: In class, we learned about violence in South Africa starting in the 1960s when the African National Conference turned to a violent campaign. The ANC started out as peaceful but then turned violent because they didn't think their peaceful protesting was working. Nelson Mandela was one of many who was sent to jail at this time.
Also in the 1960's in Sharpeville, people were peacefully protesting then the police killed 69 people, among them, 50 women and 8 children. While people ran, the police shot them.
In the 1970s, Steve Biko was killed in police custody because he was beaten to death due to his anti-apartheid activism.
Also in the 1970s, children were killed by police for their involvement in student protesting.

All of these examples of violence in South Africa during the 60s and 70s began with a peaceful protest and ended with violence, hate, and death. I think that most acts of violence start out with some sort of peaceful protest,argument or conflict that could have been solved through a much more peaceful alternative.
For example, the robbery/beating that occurred at school last week definitely could have been avoided by peacefully talking their issues out and finding a solution to their problems.
The video I watched about WeeGee showed that violence, even when WeeGee didn't take part in any of them, still effected his life in some ways.
This week I learned a lot about violence, examples of it around school, examples of how it can effect someones life, and examples in history.

Gender: During Thanksgiving and the Difference Between Arcata and My HometownTo

Topic: Gender


Source: Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 24th, also, the beginning of the semester 


Relation: On Thanksgiving Day I noticed how Gender Roles have somewhat changed from traditional to more modern. Also, I observed the importance of gender back in my hometown in El Dorado County and how gender isn't as important here, in Arcata. 


Description: I have two relations to the topic of Gender for this blog.

The First, of which are my observations I took during family gathering on Thanksgiving Day this year. On Thanksgiving. my oldest brother, my parents, and I went to my aunt and uncle's house to see their family and my other aunt and uncle's family as well. We usually go there, be social for a couple hours while all the food is being prepared, eat the food, have dessert, and be social for a little but longer. I observed my family as most of them were in the kitchen preparing the dinner. 
My mom and dad, both of my aunts, one uncle, and one female cousin helped to prepared the food together, while me, my brother, three of my male cousins, and another female cousin watched the 49ers and the Ravens play football for a couple hours. I noticed how this scene probably wouldn't have happened. 


My second point brings up the difference I have noticed between the importance of a persons gender depending on the environment in which the person lives in. 
Back in my mostly conservative, very judgmental, town of Shingle Springs in El Dorado County, gender was (for lack of a better word) important to most adolescence. Not so much me and my friends, coming from a very liberal, no on prop 8, kind of a view. I accept everyone, which was very different from most people from where I came from, whether they might look or act homosexual or different. 
I am currently dating a boy who went to the same high school as I did. He is pretty skinny, wears formfitting clothes, and has long hair for a guy. How he looks and acts made some, very closed minded, ultra conservative, homophobic people at our old school think that he was gay even though he isn't and might have been dating a girl at the time. 
Coming to Humboldt, one doesn't typically see the same type of people that mostly went to my high school. People here, in my opinion, are much more open minded and less hung up on the stereotypical roles of gender.    


Analysis: During Thanksgiving, probably around the time Thanksgiving started to be celebrated until a couple centuries ago, gender roles were more prominent than they are today. A pretty even amount of males and females took part in both preparing our meal of Thanksgiving and also relaxing and watching the football game. If I was to place my family in a more stereo-typically gender defined environment, all of the women would probably be the ones in the kitchen and the men in the living room with their beer belly guts watching the football game. Instead, there was an even amount of males and females doing either one. 
I'm not sure if most families are like mine during the holidays, but, coming from my perspective, I think our gender roles, as a society, have somewhat changed by having males and females work together to get the food ready to eat while the rest relax.   

I would like to go back to the point I was making about the difference between the importance of gender in the two different places I've lived in. 
In my opinion, I think that more conservative areas, like my high school, trend to place more importance on gender roles in comparison to more liberal areas like Humboldt. This could also be because this is a college, full of slightly more mature people than my high school. Even so, I feel more comfortable dating my boyfriend here than if we were dating at our old high school where we would have probably been made fun of because our hair is around the same length and we are about the same body size. 

The Ideal Family in Humboldt County

Topic: Ideal Family Forms

Source: The Farmers Market in the Plaza around noon on Saturday November 12th 

Relation: Observing the "ideal" family in Humboldt County and comparing these observations with past family ideals from generation to generation.

Description: Yesterday, my friends and I went to the last Farmers Market in the Plaza. After looking at all the vendors, we settled down for awhile on the lawn to watch a puppet show and enjoy to sun. While sitting on the grass I observed the families that were surrounding us. In fact, every time I hang out at the Plaza during the day, there are always families there playing and having a good time. Many of the parents at the Farmers Market were sitting with there kids watching the puppet show too, laughing at all the jokes the puppeteer was making that the children were too young to understand. Most of their parents let their kids sit as close to the stand as they wanted without the parents constant supervision. Other parents let their kids climb the tree across the lawn and they didn't seem to worry about the younger ones falling. While other mothers and fathers chased their children around groups of people standing. I even saw one father swing his daughter around in circles by her feet while she screamed in excitement. As I watched these families play together in pure bliss, it reminded me of my childhood when my dad picked me up and swung me around and let me climb the highest trees. I thought that this was the ideal form of what a family should be like, at least in the culture I was raised in.

family at the Plaza

Analysis: By observing the typical happy family in Arcata, I found the type of family relationship that I thought to be ideal for my future. Yet, it also made me think of how the form of a family as a whole has changed through the generations. My mom told me of her childhood and her relationship with her mother. Being the oldest of 6 siblings and part of a broken home, my mother helped my grandmother with the younger children, other chores around the house, and also providing a proportion of their families income. 

Nowadays, my mom would never ask me to provide the household with money, even though I have been raised to loan her money if she needs it for a short period of time. My mother would also never ask me to help raise her children, even though I don't have younger siblings, I wouldn't be totally responsible for them. Also, my mothers freedom as a child was much more strict than childhood was. I was allowed to run around outside, climb trees, go to my friends house as often as I wanted, eat more candy than she was allowed to, catch bugs, and have a boyfriend whenever I wanted when I was older. My mother had many more responsibilities when she was younger compared to me.  

My mom also told me that she never wanted my brothers and I to have the same childhood as she did. She wanted to be able to fully provide for us and for us to always have our father around. In my mothers point of view, and also my point of view, I think I was raised in a good family and had a wonderful childhood according to my norms.

my family

The Influence of Religion on a College Student

Topic: Religion


Source: During the past 3 months while getting to know my friend Jefferson more


Relation: Observing how religion can shape a person's point of view, morals, and norms.


Description: I spend a lot of time in my boyfriend's dorm floor. I have become good friends with all of the boys on his floor, one in particular by the name of Jefferson. Over time, we have learned a lot about where each other has come from and our family life back home. We were both brought up in a strong religious-oriented family, me with Catholicism and Jefferson with Christianity. We talked about having to go to church every Sunday, youth group every weekend, and religious classes at the church one a week. The main difference,although there was many other differences, between our religious practices is that he was forced to attend Sunday mass until he left his home. Jefferson told me about his cousin who was destined by his uncle to become a priest when he gets older and how he told Jefferson about how he didn't believe in his religion anymore. Jefferson was excited about this news because, like Jefferson himself, his cousin was standing up to his families influence and beliefs and turning away from the religious views. Jefferson was happy to stop going to church and not practicing in an organized religion because he felt like his family was forcing their beliefs on him too harshly and some of these beliefs Jefferson didn't necessarily believe in. This was also the reason for me leaving the Catholic beliefs and practices. Unlike me though, Jefferson still holds his faith closely but not practicing in any organized form of it. I abandoned my church about four years ago. Jefferson is still sent Spanish Bibles in the mail from his family who still hopes that he follows their religion. I took the picture directly under and Jefferson put it as his facebook profile picture. Soon after he did this, his Father called him and told him to take the picture off the internet because he didn't like the femininity of the flower in his son's hair. Jefferson was astonished by this and refused to take it off. He isn't homosexual but Jefferson approves of it and many other things his religion usually doesn't accept. I took the picture of him last Friday when we dressed up for Halloween. He dressed up as a girl and told me not to put any of the pictures on facebook because he didn't want his Father to see it which shows that he still cares about how his family views him and his new beliefs.

 

Analysis: Jefferson is an example of how religion can influence a person's point of view, morals, and norms. He is not afraid to share his past religious experiences with me and told me how his views have changed when experiencing independence from his families influence. Yet, Jefferson has not fully abandoned his faith. His upbringing and religious background has shaped him into continuing to believe in God and Heaven and other religious philosophies that he will probably believe in for the rest of his life.
This shows how powerful a religious upbringing can be to a person. I was brought up to follow Catholic views, therefore I know a lot about the practice of that certain faith, and I probably won't fully forget most of the things I was taught for about 12 years. In mine and Jefferson's situation, it also shows how religion is usually passed down from generation to generation and how parent's views effect their children's views.  

Good Vibes

Topic: Humor


Source: Cypress 8th floor Dorms, Saturday morning (around noon), October 15th


Relation: Observing how humor gives off good vibes to the surrounding people and how it can change the overall feeling of the room.


Description: One night I slept over in my boyfriend, Kyle, and his roommate, Blaze's, room. We were woken up by a disruptive noise around noon from another suite mate. Instead of getting frustrated by the other bothersome people outside our door and telling the others to shut up or stop, Kyle and Blaze started making really strange animal noises and flipping around in their beds. They immediately fill any room they are in with good vibes because of their great sense of humor and outgoing personalities. Especially when they are together, Kyle and Blaze feed off one another's energy and together they give off good vibes that are taken in by anyone else they are with, making just about everyone they are with happy.  

Blaze Goldman

Kyle Brown

Analysis: The idea of giving off vibes, whether they be good or bad or anything in between, is very interesting to me. They set the mood of any type of situation. A persons mood when first entering a room full of people who are laughing and having fun is completely different from a room full of serious or mad people. When I go over to Kyle and Blaze's room I am always greeted with either humor or affection because they are never mad at one another and they are always having fun. Yet, if I entered a room that was not loving and happy, my mood would completely change from what it was before I entered the room to the current feel of the room. This is the case for most people when they interact with others. Humans and most other animals naturally tend to feed off of one another's emotions and vibes that are being put out.
I believe that humor is a very important part of being in a relationship too. Kyle's sense of humor never ceases to lighten up the mood or make me happy whenever I'm down. Without this connection of humor and our naturally fun-loving personalities, Kyle and I wouldn't be so close to one another. We are able to laugh after talking about something serious and I think that is important in our relationship. From what I've seen in other relationships, couples or groups of people begin to split apart from each other when situations begin to be more serious rather than humorous and people tend to not have very much fun. To me, fun and humor leads to happiness, which leads to good relationships and a better life in general.

Here is a link to an article I found about how humor is important in relationships:

http://www.helium.com/items/888985-the-importance-of-humor-in-relationships

Traditions During Concerts

Topic: Tradition


Source: At a Portugal. The Man concert in the Kate Buchanan Room at HSU on September 27, 2011 (10pm-12am.)

Relation: When attending a Portugal. The Man concert I observed the traditions of going to concerts and how they vary with the type of music playing, who is surrounding you, and what type of venue the concert is taking place at.


Description: About three months ago I heard one of my favorite bands Portugal. The Man was going on tour. I got really excited when I saw that the first show of the tour was going to be about a month into my first year here at Humboldt so I immediately bought my ticket.
I didn't care if I was going by myself when I bought my ticket but I made many new friends here and some of them were going to the show as well. I met up with my friend Emily about a hour before the show and waited in line. Then we went in together and walked straight to the front middle area of the stage. People started rushing in but we held strong to our place in front of the stage. While waiting, Emily and I talked about different concerts we've been to and how fun they were. After about 20 minutes passed the band members finally walked onto stage where all of the instruments were ready for them. The crowd immediately started cheering and the band began playing their two hour set.
Portugal. The Man is categorized as an indie band (independent, college genre), therefore the crowd wasn't as energetic as some of the other shows I have been to that were more intense because of the different genre of music being played or how popular the band was compared to the one I saw this week.
From my point f view in the front middle of the stage most of the students around me were swaying back and forth, bebop-pin their heads, and the occasional jumping around. A few times when the music got louder and faster and the crowd became more enthusiastic, a very minuscule mosh pit formed next to me. This was somewhat surprising to me because, in general, indie bands don't attract the type of people that you would expect start a mosh pit. I saw Portugal. The Man three years ago but had to leave early so I only was able to see about half an hour of them, and there was barely any dancing from the crowd and there wouldn't have been a mosh pit at that show because the people were slightly older and much more calm compared to the crowd at HSU.
After the show was done the crowd called for an encore so they came out again and played three more songs for us and the lead singer talked to his audience a little more. Then after the encore was finished, we all went home or back to whatever else we had planned for the Tuesday night.  

Portugal. The Man Sept 27th

Analysis: These traditions I have witnessed in my past experiences with going to concerts and music festivals have changed due to the different bands playing, the venue it's at, and the people around me. Yet, at all of the shows I have been to I've noticed that people obviously go to the show to watch the band and have fun with their friends or the people they meet. For me, going to concerts, it's a tradition to get as close to the front as possible, try to stay near my friends if possible, and dance, of course.
There was definitely a difference between the show I saw this week and some of the others I have been to. For example, when I saw Paul McCartney a few years ago with my mom, we had to sit in the bleachers at AT&T Park. This was the first concert that I was surrounded my older people with their families and I had to sit down for most of the show. But we still danced in our seats and I would have to say that was one of the best shows I have been to.
Another concert that wasn't like any other I have been to was when I saw Crystal Castles (electronic experimental hard core band) with my three guy friends in March of this year. We got to the very front of the stage and I was literally fighting just to be able to breath. This experience was totally different from seeing Portugal. The Man or Paul McCartney. The people surrounding me were on a lot of substances and going crazy. It was an amazing experience.
My last example was when I went to Outside Lands Music Food and Art Festival in the Golden Gate Park a week before I moved to Arcata. This was different for me because I have never been around so many people at a concert before. There was about 25,000 people attending this festival and almost all of them were really excited to be there and having a blast. During some shows it was impossible for me to get to the front of the stage, but as you can see in the picture bellow, I was very far back when seeing Girl Talk but everyone, even as far back as we were, was still dancing and going crazy.
In summation, I love going to shows and taking part in the traditions of concert going. 

Girl Talk August 13th 2011

Taking a Closer Look at a Camera

Topic: Material Culture

Source: Taking pictures with my Polaroid camera in my room on Saturday, September 17th.

Relation: Looking closer into how a Polaroid camera can be observed to see the relation between this object and our culture.

Description: Yesterday while sitting in my room I decided to take a couple Polaroids because I was bored. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to analyse my camera as a cultural artifact, like we did in class, and to share my analysis through this blog.  

At a first glance this object looks like a plain little block of black plastic with a strap hanging from it and a couple of words written on it. But, when the flash is flipped upwards, the camera takes a whole new shape. Now it has even more words written on it, the lens is showing, and there are a few more switches that can be turned off and on. The Polaroid camera, other than the basic disposable film camera that you easily find a buy, is the easiest camera I have ever used. Yet, if someone from another cultural who might not have contact with any form of photography would look at this object and have no clue what it was.

Analysis: There are several factors to this devise that can be further analysed such as: the words written on it, various symbols, the different buttons and switches that can be used, and how to use it. 

I have a Polaroid Sun600. This is the brand name which means that there is more Polaroids manufactured that probably have different names other than the Sun600. There is a little squiggly lightning bolt symbol on the top of the flash which represents the flash and when it's turned off and on.  To properly use this camera the user must know how to operate it and what these symbols and flashing lights mean. There is a button to push to take a photo and another bellow it to put film into the camera. This shows that the photographer must be able to know how to buy film, which type of film to buy, and how to install it properly. It also shows that there is probably a large market involved with Polaroids because they are able to sell cameras, film, and accessories.

Through the process of observing my camera a little closer I was able to see how this object in a symbol of consumerism and marketing and the importance of these things in our American culture.   

Hangin' with the Homeless: Getting To Know the Norms of the Local Homeless

Topic: Norms

Source: On the morning of Saturday, September 3rd, my friend Abbey Teitelbaum and I talked to several homeless people in the Arcata Plaza. Their names are Hippie, Patrick, Desta, and True Blood.

Relation: This is a relationship between the differences of homeless people living in Arcata and the norms of my life as a college student.

Description: My friend Abbey and I decided to go into town around noon a couple Saturdays ago to look at shops just roam around town. When we were walking through the plaza we noticed a rather large group of homeless people sitting on the grass, looking like they were having a good time. Most of them were either laughing, talking, or playing with their dogs. Abbey and I then decided to go up and talk to some of them. Neither of us were very nervous because there was a lot of people around and they looked like generally nice people. I don't think I would have went up and talked to them on my own because there was so many of them and I would probably get too nervous even though I know most of them are nice people.
We approached the first couple person we talked to. We asked if we could sit by them and they said yes and told us their names are Patrick and  Hippie. We started talking and we asked them various questions such as, "How did you become homeless? Where do you sleep? How do you get money and how often? How did you get here and why Arcata?" They were happy to answer all of these questions and seemed excited to be talking to us. After talking to Hippie and Patrick for awhile their friends True Blood and Desta came by. We asked them similar questions and they basically told us their life stories. Looking back, I think our conversations with them were one of the most interesting conversations I have ever had and I am glad we stopped to talk to them.

Analysis:  When talking to the homeless people I met, I realized how different life is compared to mine. Sure, there are some obvious differences such as the lack of access to a bed, lots of food, and a lot of personal items. Yet, I never really thought about how they usually don't have much contact with their family and most of them are constantly traveling. These things are normal to them though and  from what I've seen, most of them are perfectly happy with it. Coming to college and being away from my family and my friends back home was a big change for me and I'm not sure I would be as happy as they seemed to be if I wasn't able to stay in contact with people back home.
One of the most interesting things I found when talking to them was the recurring theme of family and karma in our conversations. All of the homeless people I talked to that day brought up these two things on their own, without Abbey or I even asking them about it, which shows how important family and karma is to them. All of them had similar views about how their "family" is the people around them: their friends and just people who are nice to them. I found this to be somewhat similar to my current situation. Many of us new college students come here without friends and have a hard time adjusting to the change. Therefore, what I have found, is that students come together into groups and they make their own little "family" to ease the acclimation process of living away from home.
Karma was also brought up by all of the homeless people we talked to. I believe in karma but it seemed to me that they were constantly thinking about it, as though they really hoped to be rewarded in some way if they were good people in life. I'm used to never expecting an award from a good deed, but they seem to really like the idea of karma.
When Abbey and I said our goodbyes True Blood, the most talkative of the bunch, told us that he would always be here and that we could always come to him if we needed help or a place to stay. This was astonishing to me, not only because we just met him, but that he would offer anything he had to give us just because he is a nice person.
Overall, I'm glad I learned a lot about the people I met that day. I found a few similarities in the norms we share. Also, people to live with if college ever fails me.