Response to Lauren's Blog 7: The Underdog's final moments.

I had some trouble with the ending too because of how open-ended it was. To me it felt like from the very beginning that Azuela thought that the revolution was inevitable. The men were always fighting, even when they didn't know what they were fighting for. Demetrio was the leader, but didn't know what he was leading toward or why. That makes me think that it was inevitable because they were just fighting to fight. The end I saw as a more positive ending for Demetrio because he never ran from the fight and fought to the death, which is an honored way to die for many people, but thinking back on it now I see it differently. The ending can also be seen as another example of how the revolution was inevitable. Demetrio didn't know what he was fighting for but died for it anyway, making war an inevitable part of his life he could never escape from.

Blog 7: The Importance of Murals

While thinking about a mural I have seen before for last weekends discussion questions, I thought of a mural from Lansing (where I'm from).  Lansing has a large African American population, and much of the street art and murals reflect that heritage.  One mural in particular caught my attention because of all the famous people in it.

In the picture above you see two different murals, one new and one old, but they both represent the same thing.  The murals were commissioned by the owners to represent the Equal Rights movement in the United States.  The owners were proud of their heritage and wanted others to appreciate the work the people put into making the U.S. a better place for all people.  Some of the major figures include: President Obama, Michael Jackson, Condoleezza Rice, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Looking at these murals emphasized for me what the murals in Mexico did for the people.  Many murals now-a-days don't hold the same importance to the people with their subjects, but others do. This equal rights movement affected people of all classes and races, altering view and perceptions.  The same can be said about the murals in Mexico.  Artists like Diego Rivera, José Orozco, and David Siqueiros all used their art to convey messages to the people and alter their views on different subjects.  Whether they were country people or city people, educated or uneducated, Mexican murals affected each group in different ways, but conveyed a higher sense of nationalism to all groups.

I feel that this painting by David Siqueiros really represents the idea of the murals affecting all the people of Mexico.  In just the first row, you see soldiers, as well as a woman, who look ready to enter battle for the revolution.  If you look closely throughout the painting, you see the people wearing different style and colored hats, representing their different backgrounds. They all may have different backgrounds with beliefs that clash, but they come together to fight for revolution that benefits them all.

Response to Lauren's Blog 6: The Next Palmares?

This was a really great connection!  The aspect I can really see the connection with is the fact that both groups have leaders that die, but the people continue to fight for what they believe in.  The leaders were who got the oppressed people rallied around a singular cause, but even after the leaders died, their ideals were carried out by the people.  It goes to show that a group is only has strong as its weakest link, and one link can't keep everything together.  Everyone must be strong in order to achieve the goals of the whole group.

Blog 6: What do you fight for?

While reading "The Underdogs" by Mariano Azuela, I was moved by the speech Luis Cervantes  made to Demetrio Macías about what he was really fighting for.  Luis pointed out that Demetrio needed a broader view of the revolution and not to concentrate on making his part of the country better and fixing its problems.  Demetrio was focused on fighting what he thought was one man that had done him wrong, and in doing so narrowed his view to just that part of the country.  It is pointed out to him by Luis that things will never change for his people for the better if he doesn't fight the source of the problem and not just the leader.  New leaders with the same values will continue to take control as soon as the old leaders are ousted, and nothing with change.  

Luis's motivation is to fight the idea rather than the person implementing it.  In other words, he wants to fight the idea of tyranny instead of just the tyrant.  Luis encourages Demetrio to go and join the bigger revolution going on in the country because it will help the cause against the idea rather than just the leader.

This idea of fighting the idea rather than the leader is something I think can be used in many situations.  Whenever you are trying to fight to change something, it is always better to fight the idea rather that the person.  A person can change their ideas and minds quickly, switching from one side to another, but if you prove to them that the idea is wrong and not just them, it will be easier to accept.  In the end a nice life lesson can be learned from this: criticize ideas, not the person carrying them out.

Response to Stephanie's blog #5

I thought all the propaganda shown was really interesting.  It really drives the point that every situation, war, and complication in history is never as it seems.  Everything can be looked at from a different view point, and can be seen as good or bad based on that.  In reference to the Spanish American War, from the U.S.'s point of view Spain is the barbaric and ruining country because the supposedly blew up the Maine. While from Spain's point of view the U.S. is the enemy and barbaric group.

Propaganda in different countries can really change the course of war or other problems.  Without its use many people in the countries would not know what was going on and wouldn't support the different causes.  The support of the people can mean the difference between winning a war and losing.  In addition, propaganda can be used to sway the readers opinions to what the writer wants it to be, and not whether it is right or not.  That ability has lead many people to make bad decisions in who they support (a.k.a. Nazi propaganda).

Blog 5: José Martí

As many of you can probably guess, the topic of Cuba is very important to me based on my family heritage.  Being Cuban-American is special to me and it has been a wonderful experience to learn more about it's history.

I was very excited when we started reading pieces by José Martí because of how important he is to Cuban history and Latin American literature.  His idea of a "race less nation" intrigued me when we first read about it and after the debate we had in class really made me think about if it was really possible to have a race less nation.  As much as I agree with the idea, I don't think it will ever really work.  It will take centuries from now to even be able to close to being able to ignore racial differences because of all the history of mistreatment between the people.  Even in the U.S. today we may have racial equality so all people are treated  equally, but the differences between the people are not ignored.  An example of that is African-American Heritage Month, where people remember and honor those of African descent who have done great things.  Overall, I thought his idea was a very radical one and an idea that was needed at the time.  It may not have been completely possible to do, but it gave the people of Cuba the reason they needed to band together and fight for their independence as one.  Without that push history would have been very different.

While on the subject of Martí, it reminds me of one of my favorite poems he wrote that was adapted into a song of great patriotic influence in Cuba.  The first two stanzas are:

Yo soy un hombre sincero                            I am an honest man
De donde crece la palma,                             From where the palms grow;
Y antes de morirme quiero                           Before I die I want by soul
Echar mis versos del alma.                           To shed its poetry.

Yo vengo de todas partes,                            I come from everywhere,
Y hacia todos partes voy:                             To everywhere I'm bound:
Arte soy entre las artes,                               An art among the arts,
En los montes, monte soy.                          A mountain among mountains.

This poem talks of being from the land and feeling a sense of connection to place you belong.  It became a patriotic anthem for the people after it was adapted into the song "Guantanamera" in 1929.  Later, in was reproduced by a band called The Sandpipers in 1966 that became the most successful recording.  Many others have sang this song, including Celia Cruz, Julio Iglesias, and the Buena Vista Social Club.

My Response to Grace's Blog 4: Cecilia

As like many others, I love the HIMYM connection. I think its great that we can find so many little connections in the things we see and hear today. Your ideas about why Cecilia was pursued the way she was was really helpful. Since we have read the book by Socolow, I have been looking much closer into how women were treated in Latin American countries, and while we saw a lot of examples from other time periods, we don't know much about this more current period. My real question is whether the same values that were applied to women back in colonial society are used in this period. I would have to believe that the expectations of women would have loosened a bit, just like they have sense then, so do women have more freedom to do as they please? Mercedes runs a household and is very active in society, yet she is and has not married (that I remember). Women were not given that much freedom before, yet she has it.

Blog 4: Why Waste?

If you haven't noticed by now, I am the type of person who likes to compare what we are reading to things that are going on in this day and age.  By relating things to present day I am able to make deeper connections to the text and overall have a better understanding of both the reading, and why the issue is still apparent today.  Hope this makes some things clearer for you too!

One of the parts that stood out the most to me from the Cecilia Valdez reading was when Cantalapiedra forced himself to throw up all of his food that he had just eaten in order to be able to eat even more, just because he wanted to.  As many people know, the same thing happens in the book/movie "The Hunger Games," where the rich people of "The Capital" eat so much that it is a normal action to empty your stomach many times just so you can eat all that you want.  I find it quite horrifying in both instances that the people well-off in society are so wasteful and careless. In both places there are people of lower societal status that are going hungry and often starve to death.  People are living day by day while the rich eat and eat, all in close proximity to each other.

I also see that same connection in today's society.  While it is definitely not on the same scale as in the two previous examples, there is still a lot of wastefulness in society.  Everyday people, especially those of us in the U.S., take for granted that we always have fresh water and food available to us.  We go to restaurants and order more food then we can eat, where it then goes into the trash.  I myself am guilty of this, which disturbs me as I think about it.  People all over the world are going hungry everyday, yet we throw food out because it goes bad.  Overall, it really makes me think about how society has really hasn't changed over time.  Granted right now we do not waste food in that extreme of a way, but we make up for it in other places.  During that time, it was a socially acceptable thing to do, but as we look back we see it as cruel.  Many believe people nowadays to be better educated and successful than those of that time, yet we do just a much careless wasting.