Good morning individuals of the internet,
I have returned from my sabbotical. During this time I celebrated feasts of Thanksgiving, a birthday, and rejoiced in the beloved support of friends and family. I know it's been two weeks or so, but fourteen days can change a person. Although I still feel a bit sad, and sometimes achingly lonely, I cannot let the bad times bog me down. It's okay to be sad and feel grief, but in letting those emotions take their topsy-turvy course, you eventually arrive at a better place. There is no need to wallow in that. I also went shopping, and well, everybody knows retail therapy does have its merits (especially when books are involved!).
"A book a day keeps the blues away" is what my ole grandpappy used to say.
Anyway, moving on. I have done my utter most best to keep on moving and looking for new opportunities to do new things. For one, I started an Art History class that covers the art of the world from prehistoric times to the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy (it is important to make this distinction because the Renaissance began at various times depending on what country you're studying). I absolutely adore this class, and well who knew I missed homework so much! I love reading about the prehistoric art and the origins of writing, I think it to be absolutely wonderful. I particularly enjoy the blending of art and history with this class. It never really occurred to me how important art can be to understanding the people of a specific time period or civilization. Fascinating stuff.
I do have a mini rant to add in: In the last lecture concerning prehistoric art, the professor discussed the famous Venus of Willendorf. She explained that the tiny clay statue was a symbol of beauty and love, evidently taking the 'Venus' quite seriously and I must say I disagree with her. First of all, Venus is a very Western symbol, representing the Roman goddess of Love (taken from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love). But you cannot apply the symbolic measures of a later, a more technologically and possibly religiously sophisticated society (this even has its own bias and implications which can enter for another rousing debate at some other time) to an artifact created by peoples living literally thousands of years before hand. Plus she is also associating a very Western concept of love and beauty onto something created by a culture which may not have even valued those ideas. Love and beauty cannot be placed upon an object created by a society which may not have even had the language to represent those concepts or even held import to them either. The Venus of Willendorf was not some prehistoric version of the Roman Goddess herself, but a separate cultural image for a completely alien and separate culture. The most likely case is for the statue to be associated with female fertility, but then again that idea is also a bias based upon previous readings of similar early cultures and ideas associated with prehistoric cultures.
End Rant.
Okay one more thing, is it really that hard for us to believe there can be statues of women that don't represent just fertility, beauty, love, and sex? That maybe at some point in the long line of human history, women were valued for more than just their bodies and for sex? Just saying. Maybe something to think about.
So the class is great: it has really made me think about what era of history I want to explore more and what type of museum or academic institution I want to find myself in sometime in the future. It also coincides with the advent of Debate Night at my apartment. So far only one of these events has occurred but with some amount of success. Our last argument was: Is democracy viable as a modern form of government?
Talk about your heated debate. I thought it to be quite successful. I obviously choose that it was not (for those of you who read this and know me well, you might know why). I cannot possibly explain every argument and counter point that was given, but a major argument of mine was the rule of the minority over the majority. Although my recent obsession with West Wing quotes that the majority elect a few to govern the masses that is not quite the same my argument. Let us look at the rule of corporate business, again the votes of those businesses hold more power over politics than the votes of all those living in the slums. But also let us look at the flip argument should the majority of people still be able to govern the masses, especially when we take in the size of the majority over the minority in America. We're talking millions on both. Should millions of individuals be left out of the say and process because they believed that something was more important? It goes on and on.
I am the moderator for the next, and my question (shockingly enough) concerns feminism. Does American sports culture foster rape culture?
How about that? Good one, eh? I thought so too. Weigh in, I'd love to hear from you all!
I have returned from my sabbotical. During this time I celebrated feasts of Thanksgiving, a birthday, and rejoiced in the beloved support of friends and family. I know it's been two weeks or so, but fourteen days can change a person. Although I still feel a bit sad, and sometimes achingly lonely, I cannot let the bad times bog me down. It's okay to be sad and feel grief, but in letting those emotions take their topsy-turvy course, you eventually arrive at a better place. There is no need to wallow in that. I also went shopping, and well, everybody knows retail therapy does have its merits (especially when books are involved!).
"A book a day keeps the blues away" is what my ole grandpappy used to say.
Anyway, moving on. I have done my utter most best to keep on moving and looking for new opportunities to do new things. For one, I started an Art History class that covers the art of the world from prehistoric times to the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy (it is important to make this distinction because the Renaissance began at various times depending on what country you're studying). I absolutely adore this class, and well who knew I missed homework so much! I love reading about the prehistoric art and the origins of writing, I think it to be absolutely wonderful. I particularly enjoy the blending of art and history with this class. It never really occurred to me how important art can be to understanding the people of a specific time period or civilization. Fascinating stuff.
I do have a mini rant to add in: In the last lecture concerning prehistoric art, the professor discussed the famous Venus of Willendorf. She explained that the tiny clay statue was a symbol of beauty and love, evidently taking the 'Venus' quite seriously and I must say I disagree with her. First of all, Venus is a very Western symbol, representing the Roman goddess of Love (taken from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love). But you cannot apply the symbolic measures of a later, a more technologically and possibly religiously sophisticated society (this even has its own bias and implications which can enter for another rousing debate at some other time) to an artifact created by peoples living literally thousands of years before hand. Plus she is also associating a very Western concept of love and beauty onto something created by a culture which may not have even valued those ideas. Love and beauty cannot be placed upon an object created by a society which may not have even had the language to represent those concepts or even held import to them either. The Venus of Willendorf was not some prehistoric version of the Roman Goddess herself, but a separate cultural image for a completely alien and separate culture. The most likely case is for the statue to be associated with female fertility, but then again that idea is also a bias based upon previous readings of similar early cultures and ideas associated with prehistoric cultures.
End Rant.
Okay one more thing, is it really that hard for us to believe there can be statues of women that don't represent just fertility, beauty, love, and sex? That maybe at some point in the long line of human history, women were valued for more than just their bodies and for sex? Just saying. Maybe something to think about.
So the class is great: it has really made me think about what era of history I want to explore more and what type of museum or academic institution I want to find myself in sometime in the future. It also coincides with the advent of Debate Night at my apartment. So far only one of these events has occurred but with some amount of success. Our last argument was: Is democracy viable as a modern form of government?
Talk about your heated debate. I thought it to be quite successful. I obviously choose that it was not (for those of you who read this and know me well, you might know why). I cannot possibly explain every argument and counter point that was given, but a major argument of mine was the rule of the minority over the majority. Although my recent obsession with West Wing quotes that the majority elect a few to govern the masses that is not quite the same my argument. Let us look at the rule of corporate business, again the votes of those businesses hold more power over politics than the votes of all those living in the slums. But also let us look at the flip argument should the majority of people still be able to govern the masses, especially when we take in the size of the majority over the minority in America. We're talking millions on both. Should millions of individuals be left out of the say and process because they believed that something was more important? It goes on and on.
I am the moderator for the next, and my question (shockingly enough) concerns feminism. Does American sports culture foster rape culture?
How about that? Good one, eh? I thought so too. Weigh in, I'd love to hear from you all!
