My Response to Leah's Blog Número Tres

Thank you so much for looking up some of the music we have been hearing about in our reading.  I think music is a great cultural aspect that all countries have that makes them unique.  It also helps break down barriers between people of all different races and ethnicities.  All places have their own music, and like Sarmiento mentions when he writes about the Argentine and Chilean people, it allows people people to communicate without an actual language.  Music has a way of separating people and making them unique, but also making connections were they would not always be formed.

Blog 3: Violence

Violence has always been a large part of history.  There have been countless wars, genocides, and many other types of violence.  Today we even use violence as a form of entertainment.  While reading Echeverría's story "Slaughterhouse," the scene where the child is beheaded really caught my attention.  At first I couldn't believe it had actually happened, but as I kept reading my disbelief grew.  A child was beheaded amongst a large mob of people, but few stopped to recognize that a horrible tragedy had occurred. It showed me how little violence affected the people anymore because it happened so often.

That thought led to some current events going on in the U.S. today.  On January 22nd, a shooting occurred at Purdue University killing one man.  The gunman was arrested and is facing murder charges.  The police believe the shooter targeted the victim and it was an isolated attack.  My first thought when I heard of this story was "Another school shooting?"  Over the years there have been numerous school shootings and it has caused many to be desensitized to the brutality.

Just this Saturday another shooting occurred in a mall in Maryland.  The gunman went to the mall and opened fire within one of the stores killing two and wounding others before turing the gun on himself.  It was later discovered that he was carrying makeshift explosives with him at the time.

Within the last week there have been two public shootings, and unfortunately a sort of norm has begun to occur.  Just like in the story, people have become to used to the violence in our world and it doesn't affect us as strongly as it might have in the past.  To me this a very disheartening thought.  I've come to the conclusion that all "civilizations" are not completely civilized, even ours today, and that all have some barbaric characteristics.



More about the shootings:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/21/justice/purdue-shooting-report/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/25/us/maryland-mall-shooting/

Pictures:
http://abcnews.go.com/
http://www.freep.com/

My Response to Jacqueline's Blog 2

While I would like to say that the genocide of the Indians surprises me, it really doesn't. Considering that there wasn't racial equality in the U.S. until about 50 years ago, it is not a stretch to believe what happened. Latin America wanted "To be like you," meaning the U.S., and if problems still continued for hundreds of years after the genocide in the "leading country", then the elites would follow their example.

It does really make me think about who the real "civilized" people were at the time. Just like in the time of the conquest, the indians were looked down on as inferior because of their differences. The Europeans didn't understand the indigenous culture and thus declared the people to be less intelligent and below them. During this time, the same is happening because the elite still don't completely understand the indigenous. The natives in both situations did little, if anything, to deserve their treatment. So why are they the barbarians?

Blog 2: Civilized or Barbaric?

All this talk about "civilized" people and barbarians has really gotten me thinking lately about just who the real civilized people were.  Depending on who's perspective you look at, the answer is different.  The European view point sees the indigenous as barbarians because of their different culture.  Natives don't wish to modernize and change everything they have always known, and their reluctance to change causes Europeans to see them as unintelligent, and thus barbaric.  From the point of view of the indigenous, the elites of society are trying to force their ideas upon them.  The indigenous never do anything that today could be considered barbaric and morally wrong, but the elites of the nation still punish them cruelly.

So my question is, from today's standards, who is really the "civilized" people during that time?

Personally, I have always believed the Europeans and the Latin American elites to act more barbaric then any indigenous groups.  More often then not the European ideas somehow end up hurting the indigenous and their way of life, while the indigenous never do anything to deserve their punishment and cruelty.

Blog 1: Why Did I Choose Latin American Civilizations?

Hi, my name is Gabrielle Renee Gomez and I am a student at Grand Valley State University.
Go Lakers!

I also happen to be a part of the Frederik Meijer Honors College, and as my freshman sequence I decided to take Latin American Civilizations.  A major deciding factor for me in taking this course was my family background.

Half of my family is from Mayajigua, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, a small little town east of Santa Clara.  

In 1971, my grandparents decided to move to the United States with their three young children (my father was only six!) and make a new life for themselves.  My grandfather made the journey first to try and find a job and a place to live before he sent for my grandmother.  They came to the U.S. by way of Miami, but soon left for New Jersey, where their sponsor family lived.  At the time, in order to be allowed into the U.S. you had to have a sponsor family, or someone to help you get a job and get settled in the country.  They stayed there for a few months before my grandfather heard of a job in Michigan working for General Motors, where they eventually moved.  

Over the years I have learned so much about the food, music, and traditions of Cuba through my family and it has only fueled my drive for more information.  One of my favorite Cuban foods is frijoles negroes y arroz (black beans and rice), as well as flan and empanadas.  

I also grew up dancing to Cuban music, with its great rhythms and fast pace.  My favorite song as a child was called Guantanamera and was written by José Martí, a famous independence hero.

Hearing about my family's life in Cuba has always made me curious about my heritage. Learning about the foods and traditions from personal experience makes learning much more interesting.  The opportunity to learn not only about Cuba, but the other Latin American countries as well, in the Latin American Civilizations course was something I couldn't pass up.  While my major right now is Biomedical Science, I hope to minor in Spanish in the future, so this class has not only helped me learn about my heritage but has also helped with my Spanish.  I can't wait to see what we learn about next!

picture credit: http://www2.gvsu.edu/prowantj/02_gvsu_secondary_01.jpg;http://www.weather-forecast.com/place_maps/ma/Mayajigua.8.gif;http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/13642826.jpg; http://www.mynicolita.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/rice-and-beans2.jpg;http://www.los-poetas.com/a/marti99.jpg