Extra Credit: Platoon

The movie platoon covers the whole spectrum of problems that a young soldier might face during their tour in Vietnam. From mutiny to going A-Wall to the split that happens between 2 of his NCOs, the movie also depicts how drugs played a bigger influence in this war than any other war that America has been a part of. The movie depicts just how controversial the war was not only at home but also to the men that were fighting the war. Platoon is one of the few films that accurately displays how bad of a situation Vietnam was and should be shared with future generations so that we do not forget such tumultuous times. For example, in Vietnam many young soldiers would lose themselves to heroine and other drugs just so they would not know what they were doing. This movie relates to history because it emphasizes the different things that a soldier went through while fight in the war of Vietnam.

Extra Credit: Invictus

The movie Invictus chronicles the story of how Nelson Mandela teams up with the captain of the South African rugby team to help bring the country together. President Mandela had just been elected and realized that his country was still divided by racial and economic classes after apartheid had just ended. Mandela thought that since rugby was such an important thing in the country why not try and bring the country together over that. The rugby team is the countries only unifying factor no matter race or economic class and they rode it to a sense of nationalism in during their run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match. The historical significance of the film is that a President was able to bring such a divided country together over a sport which shows just how powerful sports are to a countries population. Apartheid which was the legal segregation that South Africa had been enforcing for almost 40 years had broken the country apart to such a degree that it was teetering on the edge of civil war, Mandela was able to find his countries only strongpoint and exploit it to bringing about a new age in South Africa and showing the world that they could in fact all work together towards a common goal.

Extra Credit: Last King of Scotland

Depicts the events of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s regime and its seen through the eyes of his personal doctor Nicholas Garrigan, its historical significance is that it shows events that happened in Uganda during the eyes of a single person that was close to the person that was responsible for it . For example, the government took total control over Uganda and the countries government became corrupted because of the power. It shows how power can corrupt a person who was at once had actual legitimate plans for his country.

Extra Credit: Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda is a movie that emphasizes genocide of a specific race of people. However these individuals came from the same origin and the same country. The only difference these two different race of people were their facial features. In the movie, the Hutu people were the ones killing of the Tutsi individuals. The Hutus killed an estimate of over 800,000 people which was embraced as a total genocide. In the movie the main character, Paul is Hutu while his wife is considered to be Tutsi. In a despite measure to save his family and some of the other people, he lets them stay in his hotel to hide from the Hutu people. However the Hutu finally ambush the hotel killing people and taking over the entire place. This movie relates to history because it is about the Rwanda genocide of the Tutsi people during the 1990’s. It also relates to history because when the world found out about what was going on the absolutely did nothing to help the Tutsi people. Not helping the Tutsi individuals is shown when the UN brings transportation over to Rwanda to save the Americans or other tourists who were is the midst of it all. They did not even offer to help the Tutsi people who were being killed by the thousands.

Extra Credit: The Deer Hunter

The movie Deer Hunter depicts the lives of three factory workers who want to enlist in the Vietnam War. The movie examines how the Vietnam War affected the lives of the people in a small town suburb in Pennsylvania. When the three men Steven, Michael and Nick finally go to war they become prisoners of war or simply P.O.W. This is a historical reference because the United States soldiers who fought in the war often were captured and became prisoners of war. The movie emphasizes how soldiers were treated while they were hostages in their prison cell. For example, they were made to play Russian roulette, which is a game in which different member take turn shooting a gun to their head. Although all three were able to escape the prison they became separated. Throughout the movie it also illustrates how soldiers became after they came home from the war. For example, many of them lost limbs and displayed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. In the movie the loss of limbs were shown by the character Steven who lost his legs while fighting in the war. Overall, the movie emphasizes how ordinary people become different after they fought in the Vietnam war.

Reflective Essay

Jasmine Franklin

WISE history 201

Professor Underwood

December 3, 2010

Semester progression

                                    Reflective essay: Semester Progression

            At first being in a WISE history class seemed pointless to me because I didn’t get why technology mattered when dealing with history. I could not get over why we had to write in a  blog for our assignments or do our quizzes over webct if we could turn them in or do them in class. As the semester continued I got why we used technology in our history class. It was a base for understanding how to write in a matter that gets straight to the point and so we could see how as a whole we evolved from technology.

             With the cultural analysis it was kind of difficult to grasp the concept because I had to take a point in history and analized how they survived in various circumstances. Though it was hard, it made me a better writer for history. For one, looking up quotes that pertained to my thesis was difficult because it had to relate to my point. I could not just throw a random quote without a meaning to it, I had to analyse what was going on. Also with citing the quotes it was a challenge because not only did we had to use notes, we also needed to format a proper bibliography. It was tedious and took a great deal of time and work.

             The cultural analysis, allowed me to have a more focused mind that was needed for historic base writing, because it needs to be straight to the point. When writing the paper I noticed how I became more in tuned with tying ideas and concepts together with the utilization of quotes. After I finished with the paper I felt satisfied because with writing the paper I learned about a civilization’s history and I also learned how to properly write with historical context. The paper also aided in my growth by giving me practice in citing in CMS citation.

            I thought writing the civilization essay was joyful because not only could we use regular sources, we could incorporate our experiences from the civilization game. With this essay I had to emphasize how a civilization as a whole survived and what elements were needed. I understood why we had to form our learning experiences from playing the game. It gave me as a student understanding of how much work it really is to keep a civilization at its prime best. When I had to sit down and actually write about how a civilization uses its resources to live, I found it easier for me to display the aspects that they needed.

            A weakness that I have in this class is trying to explain the historical significance in all of the writing. I am a good writer overall, but when it comes to interpreting history it gets confusing because I have to make sure I hit the “why is this important” and the “who cares” aspects in historical writing. Though it is a challenge I noticed that I am getting better at conveying my ideas historically. Some of the strength that I had in the class is actually getting my ideas across.

            In the beginning of the semester the blogs were assignments that I did not get. After I started to write them it became clear why we had to use this form of technology in our writing assignments. Blogs got me to stop adding unnecessary detail, and just get straight to the points. The outcome that I have now with writing blogs is having more effective writing without the unnecessary specifications. I have a new outlook on blogging because I thought I was not going to enjoy writing them, but I do because it taught me how to write differently.

            In the WISE history class I learned how to use technology for basis of writing. Overall I enjoyed the class because as a student I become engaged in the lectures and that allows me to understand what has happened over periods of time. Being in this WISE history course has allowed me to grow as a writer and shape my over all writing skills when it come to getting straight to the point.

The World at 1500

              During the sixteenth century, the world was in a transformation that would forever shape its future. In the 1500’s individuals became aware of art and literature, started to explore religion and culture, and developed a human trading system. On different continents, the different circumstances that were being taking place ultimately developed economic growth and human diversity for its time and in the common world.

            In Europe, individuals became aware of the beauty of art and literature. For example, during the Renaissance literature and art began to become the basis of how individuals learned and saw the world. The literature, such as forms of poetry started to become seen in different forms of education. Art was used to display human emotion and was highly valued among the people.

              New branches of Christianity began to form from the split of the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther was the starter of this reformation because he thought there needed to be a change. The religion reformation allowed individuals to become more aware of different practices and this process was the beginning of different cultural experiences. As different cultures started to arise, European nations began to expand. This expansion was due unification of the people and the want to gain wealth during the sixteenth century.

                The Atlantic slave trade was when Western Africans were caught by Europeans and were being traded to countries like North America and South America. It was started by the Portuguese and lasted 300 hundred years. During this time, it allowed the European traders to grow economically because it began a basis in which growth and development can occur.  Though it allowed growth for the Europeans, the Atlantic Slave Trade brought downfall on Africans. The West African population was decreased so dramatically that in disabled the people’s ability to prosper.

               The events that took place during 1500 molded how the world would be. Without different experiences of the sixteenth century the world would probably not be as advanced as it is today. The 1500’s brought forms of education from the expansion of art and literature, religious diversity among Christianity and opened a new world from the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Religion Blog:Greenism

GREENISM

partners: Tionna Clark and Anthony Clark

Origin Myth: As the world started to run out of fossil fuels there was a shift to the teachings of the Great Thinker Al Gore. His instructions which were shown to the world in his movie the Inconvenient Truth taught the world that if we don’t treat it right then we will soon lose out on its precious materials. As the movie gained success it also gained followers who decided to convert the teachings into a religion so they could better the world.

 

Where does the religion emerge? The religion emerged in, the Amazon deep in the jungle.

Geographic origin? South America

Commandments-

1.  You shall not practice deforestation
2.  Energy sources must come from solar energy, wind power, or any other renewable natural resource
3. You shall not utilize any pesticides.
4. Food must be grown naturally without the use of any hormones.
5. You shall not liter.
6. You must always recycle.
7. You shall respect the earth

 

Sacred Text- Our sacred text is the Scriptures of the Inconvenient Truth

Asceticism- You have to watch the show Captain Planet every day.

Rituals/holidays/customs-

• Earth Day
• Everyone must tend to their garden for 2 hours every Monday Wednesdays and Fridays.
• We have to listen to Michael Jackson’s Earth song

 

 

How do you gain converts?

We gain converts by allowing people to utilize the “smoking plant,” because we don’t want them to be in our society.

Why?

We want to save the world one tree at a time.

 

Picture Found at website below.

Black Athena Blog

The controversy over Black Athena is that Bernal is challenging the fact that Greece is not the western civilization’s founder. He believes that the individuals of the 19^th century rewrote it as anti Semitism and a base for racism towards the African cultures, and how they were the ones who were the real founders of the western civilizations. In the documentary Bernal implies that it was the Egyptians who introduced new ideas with their art and different forms of sciences. Bernal then goes on to stress how much the language had the biggest impact on his findings and studies. For example, he suggests that the Greeks understood Egyptian language and how some of the signs and symbols from Egypt were used by the Greek people. His statements tie back to how he believes that there was racial indifference to the African cultures when the scholars of the 19^th century rewrote some of the history. My position to the topic is similar to Bengals, because there is always a situation where African culture is getting whipped out of history. I also believe that the Egyptians had a bigger input to the western civilizations than Greece because they were far more advanced. If a civilization is more advanced in different subjects than how can Greece be considered to be the founders of the western civilizations. There studies that were found are believable because most things came from Egyptian culture and not Greek culture.

Revision of legalism blog

In an ancient civilization some kind of rule or order must be exemplified, to unsure the governing process is stable for the king or higher power to be in control. In Ancient China the practicing of legalism can be illustrated as one of most effective ways to administer the land and to promote power over the people. In my practice of legalism, there is only one ruler in charge and everyone must abide by him and the laws or face consequences of harsh punishment. Anything such as speaking against the emperor or disclaiming of your state or country will result in death. Everyone must demonstrate loyalty to the emperor, country and appointed magistrates, which would be the individuals I chose to help regulate the law of the land. In order to keep supremacy I would command that everyone not speak against my rules and to follow them punctually, without doubt of order. My main focuses would be the well-being of the state and its stature, honoring of the ruler and lastly the wellness of the civilization. Without any of those, the status of the civilization will be in havoc because the people would not know what to do and the problems of the nation will still continue to be unbalanced. This would be a great form of government because the people would respect the laws and adopt them out of fear from the consequences they would have to face.