Quarter 4 Blog 6

IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES
After finishing this book I have gotten a full view on the unfair treatment that went on in the Dominican Republic. Once the sisters were released from jail, they were put on house arrest. Which still left them feeling bottled up. They were released from jail but their husbands were not, which left them devastated. But they were allowed to visit them once a week. One of the visits was what unfortunately got them killed. I do not think it was right for Trujillo to treat these girls like he did. I think that Trujillo was scared of these girls and the power that they had to get lots of other people to agree with them and fight with them for their cause. I think he did not know what else to do then to get rid of them, they were more intimidating than they thought. Alvarez does a good job telling the story then having the surviving sister, Dede, explain what life was like after her sisters died and what happened and how it effected the country. I really enjoyed this book because it went into more detail than what the movie did. I also liked how much the individual girls personality and characteristics showed out through their actions.

Quarter 4 Blog 5

IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES
I am a little more than half way through In the Time of the Butterflies. I really enjoy how Julie Alvarez uses each chapter in a different point of view from each sister to explain the events in their time. Reading things in journal entries, for example in Mate's chapters are very interesting to read because Mate's ideas and opinions are expressed openly, when in truth that may be the only place she could have done that. Now that the girls are going through college and meeting their husbands things are really starting to pick up. Also, I can really tell which of the sisters really are devoted to the underground system, for example, Dede is too worried about her marriage to have anything to do with the Mariposas. But then there is Minerva who is willing to let her children live with her sister so she can pursue her dreams for fighting for her country. I think there is somewhat of a connection between this book and the book read the first half of quarter 4. They are going on about the same time, but in different countries. In The Secret Life of Bee's Rosaleen, Lily's maid is discriminated against because of the color of her skin, so pretty much she is an innocent person who is not treated right. Like in the Mariposas, the girls close friends and family get persecuted because they know or are related to the Mirabel sisters. So there is unfair discrimination in both of these books.

Quarter 4 Blog 4

IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES
So far in In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alverez, the four Mirabel sisters' early life has been introduced. I have already learned about the Mirabel sisters, so with taking my known information and applying it to what I have been reading I can see the different characteristics in the girls that eventually will push them in doing what they believe in and being such strong willed people. For example, as Minerva is going through nun school she is starting to rebel and become friends with people who do not like their current government, Minerva shows characteristics of being a very strong willed and out spoken young women and these attributes will be shown out more in her later life. I think that having the girls go to school is a very good thing, this way they will be able to get a good education and have many job opportunities later on in life. I think that their intelligence is really shown through their ability to speak what they think is right, with the right people of course, but early on in the book their strong will is very present.

Quarter 4 Blog 3

I finished the book, and in the end Lily finally did bring up her mother to August, and it turns out that August and her sisters knew Debrah and they were very close with her. August also told Lily that from when she got there she knew that Lily was related to Debrah because she looked like her and she acted like her. After Lily came out with the truth to August and the sisters Lilys father T. Ray came and found them there. He demanded that Lily came back to thier home with him, but Lily refused. Sheked her new life better, she could relate to the sisters and she did not like T. Ray because he would abuse her. I think that Lily did the right thing by coming out with the truth to August, and I think it is really sad that her father abuses her and I think that it would be better for her not to live with him, so good thing that he finally did leave her there to live with them. I think that Lily had better positive influenced living with August and her sisters and Lily was fine also because Rosaleen was there too. I really enjoied this book because it somewhat put things in perspective for me. Hearing both sides of the predujeice againist the african americans back then. I also liked this book because it showed that if you believe in something and want it to happen it can if you put your mind to it.

Quarter 4 Blog 2

Now that Lily and Rosaleen 'ran' away from Sylvan they are on their way to Tiburn. They spent the night sleeping by a creek but they are determined to make it to this city so they can find out more information about Lily's mother, Deborah. Lily found some of her mothers things and there was a picture of an African American virgin Mary and it said Tiburn, South Carolina on the back and so Lily wants to find out what that picture is all about. So while in Tiburn they meet August, May and June. These sisters have a bee keeping business and they let Rosaleen and Lily stay with them if they work. I think that August, May and June are really nice to let Lily and Rosaleen stay with them. They probably want to protect a little white girl and her African American maid. I feel like they have a connection with Lily and Rosaleen somehow. Lily and Rosaleen made up a story as to why they were in Tiburn, Lily was scared to bring up her mother right away but she was going to August about her when the time is right. I think this book is a great example about the prejudice that when on back in the 60's against African Americans. And I think that back then the African Americans somewhat looked out for each other, and in this case they were looking out for Lily as well.

Quarter 4, Blog # 1

The book I am reading for quarter 4 outside reading is The Secret Life of Bee's, by Sue Monk Kidd. So far I have read to page 100. The book so far is about a girl who is 13 years old named Lily Owens who is growing up on a farm in South Carolina without a mother. Her mother died when she was very young, so she is living with her father, T. Ray and Rosaleen thier maid. Lily really does not like her father, beacuse he is mean to her and makes her do lots of chores. Lily also has problems making and keeping friends so she does not like the social aspect of school but she loves learning at school, she especially like reading and writing. Where I am in the book Lily and Rosaleen have 'ran' away from their farm in Sylvan, South Carolina. I think that Lily and Rosaleen did the right thing by leaving that farm because T. Ray did not treat them with respect, and Rosaleen is an african american, who also did not recieve respect from people in the town. Right before they left for Tiburn, Lily broke Rosaleen out of jail. But so far I think that Lily did something that was risky but I can see where she is coming from.

Multi-Flow Map

Genocide in Rwanda

Websites:
http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_rwanda.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

Blog # 13

I read an article about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The two wars have already lasted longer than World War II and have taken more troops and money than the government ever expected. These wars have the pentagon thinking about what they are going to do because the old doctrine may not work for much longer with these wars. The wars have taken already more than 170,00 troops which are having to stay longer than expected and cause the government to keep pouring more money into these places. The pentagon is thinking of having to make a new plan for budgeting, planning, and buying weapons with the effects the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused. The Bush administration put into effect a new plan which prevented terrorists from obtaining biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons and defends the American population. The two wars that the US is fighting are causing new strains and problems within our government and have the pentagon seriously searching for a new plan of action to keep our military going.

Shanker, Thom. "Pentagon Rethinking Old Doctrine on 2 Wars." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 14 Mar. 2009. The New York Times. 15 Mar. 2009 .

Blog # 12

I read an article about how for the earth to last for the predicted number of years, we must colonize on mars within 46 years from 1993. 14 years after this prediction came out, there had still been no progress to the thought of living on mars. J. RIchard Gott II predicted this period of time based on scientific methods and has a 95 percent chance of being correct on his time frame. He says that since we have colonized all over one planet, why not move to the next and do something on that planet to keep our world around longer. The colonization of mars needs to be up and running by 2039 according to Dr. Gott and he does not think that this task is too far out of our range. The colonization of mars should not be too difficult because according to him we have colonized our whole world, so why can't we move on to something outside of out planet into the world. We only have a small time period once a rocket is built to get back up to mars and back, so colonizing and building a life up there will be more difficult than many think. Colonization on mars is one that will hopefully come soon and could change the outcome for our planet greatly.

Tierney, John. "A Survival Imperative for Space Colonization." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 17 July 2007. The New York Times. 10 Mar. 2009 .

Blog # 11

For this blog about a global issue, I wanted to read about effects of global warming. I picked an article that talks about the top 5 deadliest effects of global warming. Number 1 is that disease would be able to spread much more rapidly and easier, because disease-carrying insects migrate north as it gets warmer. Scientists believe that because of this, Malaria has not been fully destroyed. Number 2 is more frequent and worst hurricanes. This is due to the temperatures rising in oceans. In one of my previous blogs about hurricane Katrina i learned that there is still tons of damage that has not been taken care of after all these years. It would be terrible to have more of those deadly hurricanes hit. Number 3 is more frequent/worse droughts and heat waves which will most dramatically affect Africa and parts of Africa. Africa already has a very scarce source of water, so this would be a huge problem and could potentially spark wars and conflicts (such as that in Sudan). Number 4 is that the past 3 effects would be costly to the economy because "Hurricanes cause billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these". And lastly number 5 is that polar ice caps would melt which would cause many, many problems. This is a very serious problem that I think people definitely need to pay more attention to.

Johnson, Simon. "5 Deadliest Effects of Global Warming." Environmental Graffiti. 11 Sep. 2007

Blog # 10

For this blog about a holiday I read an article about the history of Easter. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. Something that I found interesting from this article is that it is a celebration converged from three traditions: Pagan, Christian, and Hebrew. Another fact that I found interesting was that to solve the problem of what day Easter should be celebrated on, Constantine called to formation the Council of Nicaea. I remember learning about this in my AP world class but did not know that it played a crucial role in determining the day that Easter should fall on (they ended up agreeing on it being the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox... whatever that means). I was hoping to find out where all of the stereotypical Easter traditions evolved from, such as the Easter bunny, Easter egg searches, etc. I'm not sure what these symbolize in relation to Christianity because they seem kind of unrelated take the importance off of the reason for celebration.

http://www.theholidayspot.com/easter/history/easter_history.htm

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