So What is Easter Anyway?

Easter is coming up and it took me by surprise. Not being religious and never having been to a church service in my life, makes these sporadic religious holidays sudden surprises. I guess even non Christians know when Easter arrives because every grocery store, target and Walgreens fill their shelves with peeps, chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs. I know vaguely that Easter relates to some time in Jesus' life, but I don't see the connect with Jesus to plastic eggs filled with chocolate and bunnies. I read this article and learned that officially Easter was the day (or around the day) that Jesus was "resurrected"three days after his crucifixion, and two days after Good Friday. No offensive to any one's beliefs but to a totally non religious person these events seem a little absurd, especially in this age of technology and modern science, I just don't comprehend it. But something I do comprehend it the tradition of going on Easter egg hunts, and getting a basket full of candy from the mysterious Easter Bunny. This is a tradition that, even with my non-beliefs my family and I celebrate without fail. How did this odd religious observance end up so transformed in to a consumer and family holiday that even non- Christians practice? The answer lies in the many centuries worth of blending religion, music, tradition, pop culture and consumerism that creates our modern Easter Sunday in to a small but fun family get together, with chocolate, bunnies, Jesus Christ and most important community.
(I know we aren't supposed to use Wikipedia but this article was REALLY long and had good information on the transformation of the holiday that I couldn't find anywhere else)
Many authors. "Easter." Wikipedia.com. 23 Mar. 2004. 4 Mar. 2009 .

My Encounter with Bollywood

For first quarter's Ap World History extra credit movie night my teacher, Ms. Matters showed Ashoka, a historical Bollywood film. She told us it was about the life of King Ashoka, one of the greatest rulers of who unified India. We were told to bring pillows and blankets and report to her room at 7:00 Tuesday night for an action packed film and two extra credit points. What we got was a three and a half hour long singing, dancing, romance, battle spectacle. Unlike most American movies, Ashoka had all the themes of movies; romance, action, assassinations, deception, exile, huge battle scenes, lost princesses, religion and death all rolled into one extremely long and confusing plot. In short, Prince Ashoka leaves his kingdom after many assassination attempts by his cousin and other contenders for the throne. He conceals his identity, and travels the Indian country side, a land greatly divided into regional kingdoms. He meets a beautiful girl named Kalwaki, who is actually a princess in hiding and her little brother who is in line for the throne of a rival kingdom. Ashoka and Kalwaki fall in love, but Ashoka must return to his kingdom to take care of his dying mother. While there he receives false news that Kalwaki and her brother have been killed. So heartbroken he turns into a monster, and murders many to take the throne. Mad with no feeling he begins on a ruthless conquest of India, destroying everyone in his way. Meanwhile Kalwaki and her brother have returned to their kingdom and taken the throne, they prepare for war against Ashoka's growing empire. After an extremely bloody series of battles the last independent kingdom falls, with both sides almost completely destroyed. Kalwaki lives threw the battle and sees that her lover is the destroyer of her country and brother. Ashoka sees her alive and suddenly realizes the horror he has created and everything he has destroyed. In the end he is reunited with Kalwaki and becomes a devout Buddhist, and spends the rest of his days ruling and repairing the united India. In addition to an extremely confusing plot, about every 20 minutes, all the character would burst into song and dance, where the tunes were catchy but all in Hindi ( the movie was entirely in subtitles but their language was really cool to listen to). This movie was quite an experience, which although is pretty weird to most Americans, it is a large part of Indian culture and a treat on it's own.
(I read the article on the Ms. Jarrett's blog also)
Mehta, Suketu. "Bollywood Confindential." Suketu Mehta. 14 Nov. 2004. New York Times. 1 Mar. 2009 http://www.suketumehta.com/nytm.html.

Infused Culture, Russia and Georgia

Russian and Georgian culture have been infused and intertwined in a mixing of languages, plays, literature and music. The recent war between them have stirred up trouble between Russians living in Georgia and Georgians living in Russia. While most people say they hate the Russian government not its people, there is still a growing generation of young people who strongly dislike any Russian Influence. But the influence is un-erasable, in an average Georgian city you can buy Russian Language fashion magazines, Russian foods and snacks and hear Russian pop songs blasting from a car radio. While the governments have officially cut off all diplomatic relations with each other it is nearly impossible to cut off the shared culture between these two nations. My response to this article is that America is very similar. American culture is distinctly different from any other in the world, yet we draw so many influences from around the world. Chinese restaurants, Spanish markets, European fashions and Japanese cars all draw influences from different cultures from around the world. Our 'melting pot' of cultures and peoples have given us what we think is a view into another culture, but in fact Chinese culture can not be all summed up in a single Americanized Chinese restaurant and Japanese cars look a lot like American and German cars. Like in Georgia and Russia we have all been molded together into an inseparable tangle that no matter if we go to war with all the world, we will still have many remnants of their culture here and our own culture spread everywhere as well.

Bilefsky, Dan and Schwirtz Michael. "Within a Russian-Infused Culture, a Complex Reckoning After a War." New York Times Online. 7 Sept. 2008. New York Times. 24 Feb. 2009 .

Change; Japanese economy lessons

As Americans begin to cut back spending in preparation for the tough economic years to come, we should be wary of a lesson from Japan. The Lost Decade (1990's) was a brutal economic period for Japan, with many of the same characteristics as the one we face today. During this time stocks fell and wages were stunted, consumers became cautious and unresponsive always fear full like skittish mice. Even in economic booms they still the same, reusing bathwater for clothes to cut utility costs, and separating want from necessity. Not playing their role as consumers in hurting the Japanese economy, as it plummets during the recent economic slow down. This change in Japanese consumers as severely altered their view on economic prosperity and success. But it is important to learn from Japan's economic history that America must not follow the same path. Cutting back is important during an economic slow down, but it is also important to keep our consumer wants during better times. While this article takes a very negative view of Japan's consumers, I think it is somewhat admirable that they have learned from over spending and want. They had become used to a simpler lifestyle during those 10 years in economic turmoil, and now they want to keep that lifestyle. For instance young Japanese men don't seem to be interested in cars; last year in a survey when 20 years olds were asked if they wanted to get a car only 25% said yes, this is down from 48% in 2000. The article was very aggressive about how this was hurting their car sales. But I think with the majority of people living in busy cities with subways they have no need for a car. And the average person isn't going to go out and buy a car they don't need to stimulate the Japanese car industry. While the article does have some interesting lessons for America, I don't think America will ever have that problem. In fact cutting back is going to happen, and like everything that changes has its good sides and bad sides.
Tabuchi, Hiroko. "When Consumers Cut Back: An Object Lesson From Japan." The New York Times 22 Feb. 2008, National ed., sec. International: 1+.

Blog #6 Save the Children

For the holidays this year my family decided to donate to Save the Children, a non-profit organization that connects children in need to a sponsor and provides them and their families with necessary food, shelter and education. A man came to our door and told us we could help a child and their family for $28 a month. We were assigned to sponsor April-Joy Lamit, a 10 year old girl who lives in Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat in the Philippines. I got very interested in the program and read all the letters from April-Joy and history of the organization. My family and I wrote her an email; in Spanish. But then we found out people in the Philippines don't actually speak Spanish, which was kind of embarrassing. I watched some videos and read articles on their site about the history of the organization; it began during the Great Depression to help provide children lunch at school. Then it grew international after the destruction of the Great Wars, Save the Children was in Europe providing stability and relief to war destroyed children and communities. Building and working with a relief organization would be tough work, especially in places that are in extreme poverty or war devastated communities. I have great admiration for the volunteers who take time out of their lives and go to far away places, away from comfort and luxury; because they believe they will make a difference. I have great hope that our $28 a month that here buys a cheaper meal for 4 will make a significant difference in April-Joys life and community.
Caleb, (country director), Latha. "Save the Children." Letter to Marjorie K. Soper. 19 Jan. 2009. Philippines Field Office, Manila, Philippines.

Religion, Culture and Change

The movie Chocolat tells the story of a small conservative French town in 1959 and it's inhabitants' struggle to find peace between their faith and the temptations of modern life. In the beginning everyone knew their place and what was expected of them, this all changed when striking Vianne (my baby cousin is named after this character) opens an unusual chocolate shop and the towns people are swept away in desire and temptation as she bakes out unusual mouth-watering delicacies. Her different style and openness is very contradictory to the towns conservative Catholic society and many conflicts arise with the change. In our world it is widely known that a person or town's faith shapes their values, ideals and the way they raise their children; but it also deeply affects how a society will accept change and new ideals. Sometimes with a strict code and standard difference and new styles are often not encouraged like in the movie. Along with religion, culture also shapes values. For instance when I went to Rome people were very loud, and friendly they were terrible drivers and often ran red lights and cussed out other drivers that got in their way. In England it was very different, they had more of a quiet politeness and courtesy. Within those different cultures there are many individuals who each have their own style, opinion and personality but no matter how different they may be, they are similar in their underlying culture that is always changing and redefining itself with every new idea and individual that is added. And the acceptance of new ideas, religions and cultures is essential to the societies' ability to compete in this fast changing world. This movie was very well done with superb acting and story telling. It shows that we are not defined by what we don't do or who we don't include; but rather by what we take in and build upon our own religion and culture.
Chocolat. Dir. Lasse Hallstrom. Perf. Juliette Binoche, Jonny Depp, and Judi Dench. DVD. Miramax Films, 2000.

Blog #4 Uncle Pashe

Nearly 60 years ago, Pashe Keqi made the decision to live the rest of her life as a man. In a country rattled with wars and death, it was a practical solution to a family short on men. This tradition of taking an oath of celibacy, has been passed down orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than 500 years, as part of the strict code of conduct; the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini. In this code and society, a women's role is restricted to that of taking care of the family and home. A women's life was worth half that of a man. Women who spend their lives dressed as men are accepted in public life, even respected. The custom "was a way for these women in a male-dominated, segregated society to engage in public life," says Linda Gusia, a professor of gender studies at the University of Pristina in Kosovo. "It was about surviving in a world where men rule." Today, the tradition is dying out, and women have equal rights to men. They say the erosion of the traditional family in which everyone once lived under the same roof has altered women's position in society. Keqi says she would not choose to live as a man today with the modernization of Albania and it's social code. "Now, Albanian women have equal rights with men and even more powerful," says Keqi, "I think today it would be fun to be a women." With all our rights today, it is hard to imagine a place in the world where women are treated much below the worth of a man, but I suppose there are still places like that in the world. Women are often left out of the history books and have had few rights or roles in political life for the majority of human history. Before a women had a 'place' now she can make her place anywhere she wishes. She is not just beside her husband, she is herself and anyone she wants to be. The social standards are always slowly changing, I bet there will be considerable differences when I have children. But it is the nature of things to change and grow and expand; as we struggle to figure where all the time went.
Bilefsky, Dan. "Why Aunt Pashe Became an Uncle." New York Times Upfront 1 Dec. 2008: 9-11.