Blog # 9

For my blog about bollywood I read Bollywood Confidential by Suketu Mehta. In this article, Mehta tries to describe what it is about bollywood movies that Indians find such a connection with and why this is not the case for Americans and hollywood movies. Although he never specifically states his reasoning for why this is, I think that they love Bollywood films so much is because it is such a crucial aspect of their culture and promotes very good values for viewers. It is something that many people- regardless of race, gender, religion, whatever it is- can bond over and relate on. Much of his article is about personal stories of how Bollywood films impact peoples lives. Such as how when they moved to America his son Gautuma would sing Hindi film music and traditional english songs. He says that when he missed Bombay when he was in New York he would sing Hindi music from his favorite Bollywood film. Suketu comments on this, "An Indian boy in America, singing a Hindi song from an Indian movie imitation of an American comic book: the Ping-Pong game of kitsch.". I think this was an event that stuck out to him because in the midst of a new country that is so different, he can look back and watch over and over again these films and bring a small piece of Indian culture with him wherever he goes. I think that is the reason that these movies are so special, is because they represent their culture and reflects values and morals that are important to them.

Suketu, Mehta. "Bollywood Confidential". New York Times Sunday Magazine. 12 Nov 2005. 27 Feb 2009.

Blog # 8

An article I read in the Star Tribune was about a gang of Hmong boy teenagers raped a 13 year old girl. The boys were sent to court and were charged of various things. A Hmong community leader said that this event will take a hard blow on their tightly knit cultural community. The community is worried that these actions will be reflected on them, but some know that this was more of an individual act and not something that should or will be reflects on the Hmong community. Although the case may be that surrounding communities will look at this Hmong community and think it may not be 'safe' but really it could happen in any community. The boys did this because they were going to get imitated into a gang. In any community with gang , this could happen. The cultural differences could have people looking at this event to reflect on the Hmong people unfortunately.

Adams, Jim. "4 Teen boys allegedly rape a girl" Star tribune

Blog #7

Adding on from what I read for my last blog, there is a quote in the article that a boy said " We do not really care what the name is, " said 10th grader Caleb Rollins, surrounded by about 20 of his class mates." We just want to be together" These kids are going to have to adujst to having more kids at school with them and they are going to have to get used to the fact that they are having school in a church but from what they have been saying they really do not care. All they care about is being in school and that they will not have to go to public schools and they can keep practicing thier faith through school. It was said in the article that lots of the changes will depend on the enrollment of the students for next year. Some people do not always like change and could be scared of the fact that there will be new teacher and new students and thier school will be in a new place. So tieing together the last two blogs, change could be a good thing but there needs to be hope that others will go along with it.

Blanchette, Aimee. " 'Hand of God' keeps student body intact" Star Tribune

Blog # 6

An article I read in the news paper about hope was about two private Lutheran schools that were having trouble with money and were going to have to close next year. They some how found eachother and decided to combine schools and will stay open next year together. A chruch as opened their doors for this school to be held there. A few weeks ago there was little hope for either of these schools to be open for next school year, now with finding this other school that was having the same problem as them they now have hope with that they will be able to combine and still have school next year. The children at these schools were saying how they do not even care what the name of their school is as long as they are together and up and running for next year. This could teach us all a lesson in that where you may think there is little hope, there could easily be a way for things to work out for the better.

Blanchette, Aimee. " 'Hand of God' keeps student body intact" Star Tribune

Blog # 5

In India, the biotechology is growing rapidly. But some American scientist and buisnessmen are questioning if Indian moral and religious values are present in these biotechnologists. "Many Hindus see the soul - the true Self (or atman) - as the spiritual and imperishable component of human personality. After death destroys the body, the soul soon finds a new temporal home. Thus, for Hindus as much as for Catholics, life begins at conception"(Mishra). This shows the difference and some similarities between the Catholic and Hindu beliefs. In many of the studies, they refer back to one of the ancient myths of their religion. For example, there is a myth that they refer back to when discussing human cloning through stem cells extracted from human embryos. But spiritual tradition cannot solve all the ethical issues created by progressing science, ultrasounds are used for pregnant women to identify if the fetus is female so they have to decision to abort. Since, female children are still considered as a burden to the family. And also since the research is so expensive only the rich can afford proper medical help, and for now the poor serve as guinne pigs. The abortion of female fetuses is a belief that dates way back, and is reminding me of the texts we read in world history about post-classical India.

Mishra, Pankaj. "How India Reconciles Hindu Values and Biotech". The New York Times. 21 August 2005. 15 February 2009.

Blog # 4

The gender roles in Uganda are divided up in the labor category. They sometimes can change through out the economy or how the crops are doing. 90% of rural women work in the agriculture area. They take care of the sowing and harvesting and seed selection. The Men do more of the heavy work with using the oxen and the farming machinery. The work that is split up is the weeding and baging up of the crops. The men make most of the decisons at the market, and it is thought that in the rural areas women do most of the work. This is different from how the gender roles are here. We do not really have gender roles and for the most part women and men are treated equally. It may be different in the rural areas but the farming is probably split up from the men and the women. But with certian circumstances the roles of men are somewhat the same as in Uganda because of how men are bulit and how strong they are.

FAO. 2000. IFAD’s Gender Strengthening Programme for East and Southern Africa – Uganda Field Diagnostic Study (Draft). Rome. [http://www.ifad.org/gender/learning/role/labour/54.htm]

Blog # 3

I was reading about the Chinese culture and how their weddings can differ from ours. A common celebration occurs on a certain day a year where many couples get married all at the same time. Just last August on the 8th over 80 couples got married in Sermban. This is very different from how people get married in our culture. Normally in the United States a wedding day is a personal day all about one couple devoting their life together, but in China many people do the whole mass wedding ceremony thing and many many couples get married at the same time. From what I have read it is a huge celebration normally held at big business centers that can hold lots of people to come and watch the weddings. The ceremonies are lots of the time held outside and all of the couples line up and say their vows together. How people get married is not the important part, the important part is how much it means to the couple and what is in store for them in the future.

Blog # 2

I've been reading a blog site almost daily since September. My friend Brett has been overcoming a struggle and facing a difficulty since August 28th when he got in a car accident. Through out the last 5 months Brett has faced coming out of a coma and working through an internal brain injury. With how he is now it is very difficult for him to do things on his own, he is capable of communicating through a link key board and typing out what he wants to say and he is starting to use few word phrases to communicate. This whole situation with Brett reminds me of the book and movie we read and watched in the first semester, The Dicing Bell and The Butterfly. the difference between Brett and Baubby is that Brett is not locked in, he has full mobility but his brain cannot tell his body to fully function on his own. Brett also can commnicate faster than Baubby could. A similarity between the two of them is that they both had friends and family come visit them in the hospital, but so far Brett has come a lot farther than Baubby and his working his hardest to make a full recovery.

Hansen-Begg, Greta. Caringbridge. [http://caringbridge.org/cb/viewHome.do] 2Feb. 2009

Blog # 1

The harsh ice storms in Kentucky have been leaving people off in bad situations. The temperatures have been rising but this is a bad thing because the ice is melting and leaving it a problem for rescue vehicles to get where they need to help. The ice storm is not just affecting the people who live in the area where it hit, people that need to travel through this area have to take account that the travel time may be longer or simply they can not travel through the iced area. Now that the storm itself if over they are having more problems with the winds picking up speed, and the trees that have fallen down or trees that are still up are getting blown around and hitting power lines, which is making the recovery from this horrible storm take even longer. There are still homes with out power and it is predicted that they may not get their power back for up to two months. With out power the recovery time for this storm will be extended even longer, and will continue to affect the troops that are giving their help, the citizens of the cities where these storms have hit and the people that are wanting to travel through these cities.

CNN: [http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/weather/02/01/winter.weather/index.html?iref=newssearch] 1 Feb. 2009