Blog #8 (quarter 3)

The article about culture that I read was on Eskimo culture. Eskimos are like many other hunting and gathering cultures. What makes Eskimo society stand out from others is that they were known for their especially skilled artists and fine craftsmans. Due to the sparseness of the lands they live on Eskimos live in small bands with a leader selected who is recognized for his ability to provide and protect the rest. The idea of personal property is viewed much differently than most cultures, Eskimo's will share most things besides for the most personal, private property. Just like most cultures though the Eskimo men will build the homes and provide food, while the women will stay home to watch the family. Their religion is rich with mythology, and shamanism is practiced. Shamans are like priests, but they commune with the earth, like many other pagan priests shaman's will use drugs to induce visions. Now a day's almost all Eskimo's live in communities. Instead of the spear the gun is used to hunt, and many communities will even have snowmobiles.

Weblink: http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/society/A0858029.html .

Blog #7 (quarter 3)

Today I read an article called, "Is Bollywood coming to Hollywood?" on cnn.com. The focus of this article is on the recent movie called 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Indian Bollywood-type movies have been attracting attention with the Hollywood. The movies are becoming known as ambassadors for India, because they give people from other parts of the world a glimpse of Indian cultures and ways of life. This movie isn't even the first Bollywood-type movie to come to hollywood, but it's been reported as the most popular. This is a change, because hollywood hasn't seen this type of movie as much in the past, and this will be a new twist for the film industry.

weblink: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/23/bollywood.hollywood/index.html?iref=newssearch

Blog #6 (quarter 3)

For this blog, I found a long text about hope on wikipedia. It was interesting, because I didn't know that anyone had taken the time to think so much about hope. "Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best." This text explained that when used in a religious context, hope is being aware of what christians see as "spritual truth". The idea of hope dates back until Greek mythology, when Pandora's box is opened, and everything escapes except hope.

Blog #5 (quarter 3)

For this week's blog, I read an article on the NewYorkTimes.com called: "How India Reconciles Hindu Values and Biotech". This article talks about how Bush restricted funding for stem-cell research in 2001, but now, it's considered a smart idea to research stem-cell, and how it can open opportunities for the future. The Indian biotech companies are expanding their research companies, and this will create thousands of new jobs for people. The religious significance of this article is that people are critical and noting that these biotechnology companies are having no respect or consideration for religious or moral positions on the idea of stem-cell research.

Blog #4 (quarter 4)

Today I found an article called "The Effect of Gender Specific Social Roles on Recovery from Violent Crime Experiences". This article tells about the hypothesis that women are twice as likely to develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). A model including the effect family roles, socially accepted gender roles, sexual implications, sexual harrassments, etc. has been developed,. 14 women and 14 men survivors of a traumatic experience were observed and interviewed with open-ended questions. Many steps were taken in analyzing the data, and the outcome shows that women, indeed, are more likely to develop PTSD. This was a surprise to me, because I didn't think that gender really made a big difference, and I also didn't realize there were that many factors in determining how severe someone's stress will be.

Blog #3 (quarter 3)

Today I read an article on Wikipedia about Candian culture. Canada's culture has always been influenced by European traditions, mainly British and French. The cultures of Canada's "Aboriginal" people have become mainstream in Canada's culture over time, and has also been influenced strongly by the U.S. Immigrant people to Canada have also been a big influence to the culture. This article was interesting because I got to learn about all the different places around the world that have influence this one place.

BLOG 2 (Quarter 3)

For the topic overcoming struggles or facing a difficulty, I thought of the movie, The Pursuit of Happiness, starring Will Smith. This was a really sad movie, about a man who loses his job, but has a little boy and a wife to support. After his wife leaves him, the man searches for work, while trying to sell the last of an investment he made years ago. He goes back to school, but there is no money, and ends up living in shelters with his son. Throughout the movie we see the struggles he faces, but he pulls through, gets a job, and finally starts to prosper. This movie showed a really good message, while also telling a realistic story that could happen to a lot of people.

BLOG 1 (quarter 3)

I read a book called Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This is a fictional book about the moon coming closer to the earth, causing a huge natural disaster. The main character lives in a town, but all over the world, the schools get closed, supermarkets run out of food, and everyone loses contact. By the end of the book, her family is barely surviving, and the whole town is mostly dead. I thought this was actually a scary book to read, because with all the gloabal warming, environmental issues going on, something like this could possibly happen to us. Of course this wasn't a true story, but it was written so realisticly, it made me really aware of the recent environmental issues.

CITATION: Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life As We Knew It. Orlando: Harcourt Books, 2006.