What’s in a Name? :: Personal Narrative Writing

What’s in a Name? My dad has this old Bill Cosby record that he used to listen to in the age of record players (now he's got the very same in CD version). It was a comedy routine in which Cosby describes his childhood. He reminisces in particular about how he could tell when he was in trouble. His father would say something to the effect of "GODDAMIT, GET OVER HERE!", and then Cosby throws out the punch line of the story: Up until he was about ten years old, he thought his name was "GODDAMIT." I never had to be addressed as GODDAMIT to know I was in trouble. In my father's voice, it was volume that usually revealed this information. When my eardrums hurt from hearing my name, my FULL name, JANET PAULINA MORRIS, my dad didn't want any other poor children within earshot to think they were in trouble; however, he did intend for everyone within a five-mile radius to hear that I was in for it. When my mother had to call out my name in order to reprimand me, even if it was in private, she had to pretend we were in church or something. Her voice became very low pitched, almost a whisper, and then came the recitation of the three lovely words with which I had been baptized, JANET PAULINA MORRIS. Though she nearly whispered, there was nothing serene or endearing in her tone of voice when scolding me. It didn't matter what she said . . . "I love you very much" could be thrown from her mouth like a dagger when she used that tone of voice. There is a point in communication where words are of no consequence in bringing across a particular message. Sometimes, what is said is irrelevant, and how it is said singularly brings across this message. It all depends on diction. Aristotle was the first to coin the term "diction" in his analysis of the making of art and other things in Poetics. Diction, Aristotle claimed (only I think he made this claim in Greek), clarifies language and alludes to a source of interest in a speaker's tone of voice. My mother's source of interest was, um, well . . . me. She wanted to make sure that I knew exactly where she was coming from and exactly what I was supposed to do about it.

Tok – Art as an Area of Knowledge

TOK Assignment Art can be of speckled forms, ranging from instillations to painting to music to dance. Each of these practices of art have diverse impacts on society. However today irrational exuberance of the contemporary art market is about the breeding of money and have lost the fertility of art. I really believe that art is what humans created as a highest explanation level to fully clarify the perspectives and especially emotions of human beings. Art does not have any specific meaning, there are so many varied elements in an art work that a myriad of viewers can appreciate as well as criticize.I have always believed that after an artist finishes a painting or a dancer finishes a show, their dedication, commitment and meaning for those forms of art becomes highly negligible. It is how the audience reciprocates to it, and perceives it is what is important. Interpreting art allows us to interpret the psychological complexity within a person, their reactions to forms of art their em otions and perceptions towards it makes it easier to analyze their characters. For instance at the Kala Ghoda Art Festival, this instillation highly struck me.The color is what created the main impact. Black placed ahead of golden, the first thing than came to my mind was how is today’s world it is always the evil that has taken over the good. Since I’ve always perceived black to be evil, and golden/yellow being the good or the brighter color showing the brighter side of life. It also showed me how the good always follows the bad, and in reality especially in today’s fast growing generation this is how the world has started functioning. This gives a very negative outlook about life, and thus I personally did not like this concept much.First look, it appears to be neat and nice but gradually upon analyzing it I did not like the concept at all. Art is more than just self-expression and communication. It is a type of language, understanding and emotional outlook of an individual. If we go to see, art is everywhere. The world revolves around the different forms of art, every part of the world has its own unique art forms. This has been passes on from our ancestors, therefore it does shape our society till an extent. There have been instances when society has revolted against certain art forms, leading to a high controversy.This is highly debatable as every individual has their own rights, however cultural beliefs and society pressures leads to them compromising on those rights. Some countries have always portrayed women in the artworks, showing the gender discrimination. However due to this, the society’s opinion towards women has changed drastically. If they change this, and suddenly only men are seen all over the artworks be in instillations or painting or sketches, it will shape the growing generation’s mindset in a different manner.Taking art in the form of music or maybe dance, definitely affects and reflects emotion. It is that form of art which can be taken and the musician’s or dancer’s knowledge can be extracted through it. At the Kala Ghoda Festival the live performance was completely breath taking. It appealed to the audience and was able to reach their senses. That also brought out the Indian ethnicity with it. Those beats were brilliant and I personally was very appealed by that performance. Performing arts is another very broad medium of art, allowing varied amounts of portrayals.It is where language and reasoning can be effectively demonstrated with the help of language certain times. Thus to conclude, art is very broad comprising of different forms which all ass to a different meaning. However, its interpretation can differ from the person’s culture to their mood to their personal values. It acts as an opportunity for the growing kids to find out their strengths and gives them an opportunity to explore various fields. Their skill in different forms of art is also very vi tal in gaining knowledge about them as a person.

Beginners Guide to the Maya Civilization

Beginners Guide to the Maya Civilization The Maya Civilization- also called the Mayan civilization- is the general name archaeologists have given to several independent, loosely affiliated city states who shared a cultural heritage in terms of language, customs, dress, artistic style and material culture. They occupied the central American continent, including the southern parts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, an area of about 150,000 square miles. In general, researchers tend to split the Maya into the Highland and Lowland Maya. By the way, archaeologists prefer to use the term Maya civilization rather than the more common Mayan civilization, leaving Mayan to refer to the language. Highland and Lowland Maya The Maya civilization covered an enormous area with a large variation of environments, economies, and growth of the civilization. Scholars address some of the Maya cultural variation by studying separate issues related to the climate and environment of the region. The Maya Highlands are the southern part of the Maya civilization, included the mountainous region in Mexico (particularly Chiapas state), Guatemala and Honduras. The Maya Lowlands make up the northern segment of the Maya region, including Mexicos Yucatan peninsula, and adjacent parts of Guatemala and Belize. A Pacific coastal piedmont range north of the Soconusco had fertile soils, dense forests and mangrove swamps. See Maya Lowlands and Maya Highlands for in-depth information. The Maya civilization was certainly never an empire, inasmuch as one person never ruled the entire region. During the Classic period, there were several strong kings at Tikal, Calakmul, Caracol and Dos Pilas, but none of them ever conquered the others. Its probably best to think of the Maya as a collection of independent city-states, who shared some ritual and ceremonial practices, some architecture, some cultural objects. The city-states traded with one another, and with the Olmec and Teotihuacan polities (at different times), and they also warred with one another from time to time. Timeline Mesoamerican archaeology is broken up into general sections. The Maya are in general thought to have maintained a cultural continuity between about 500 BC and AD 900, with the Classic Maya  beween  AD 250-900. Archaic  before 2500 BCHunting and gathering  lifestyle prevails.Early Formative  2500-1000 BCFirst  beans  and  maize agriculture, people live in isolated farmsteads and hamletsMiddle Formative  1000-400 BCFirst  monumental architecture, first villages; people switch to full-time agriculture,  Olmec  contacts, and, at  Nakbe, the first evidence of  social ranking, beginning about 600-400 BCImportant sites:  Nakbe,  Chalchuapa,  KaminaljuyuLate Formative  400 BC-AD 250First  massive palaces are built at urban Nakbe and El Mirador, first writing, constructed road systems and water control, organized trade and widespread warfareImportant sites: El Mirador,  Nakbe, Cerros, Komchen, Tikal,  KaminaljuyuClassic  AD 250-900Widespread literacy including calendars and lists of royal lineages at Copn and Tikal, first dynastic kingdoms, changing political alliances, large palaces and mortuary pyramids constructed, intensification of agriculture. Populatio ns peak at about 100 per square kilometers. Paramount kings and polities installed at  Tikal,  Calakmul,  Caracol, and Dos  PilosImportant sites:  Copn,  Palenque,  Tikal,  Calakmul,  Caracol, Dos Pilas,  Uxmal,  Coba, Dzibilchaltun, Kabah, Labna, Sayil Postclassic  AD 900-1500Some centers abandoned, written records stop. Puuc hill country flourishes and small rural towns prosper near rivers and lakes until the Spanish arrive in 1517Important sites:  Chichà ©n Itz,  Mayapan, Iximche, Utatlan) Known Kings and Leaders Each independent Maya city had its own set of institutionalized rulers  beginning in the Classic period (AD 250-900). Documentary evidence for the kings and queens has been found on stele and temple wall inscriptions and a few sarcophagi. During the Classic period, kings were generally in charge of a particular city and its supporting region. The area controlled by a specific king might be hundreds or even thousands of square kilometers. The rulers court included palaces, temples and ball courts, and  great plazas, open areas where festivals and other public events were held. Kings were hereditary positions, and, at least after they were dead, the kings were sometimes considered gods. As an example, below are linked what is known of the dynastic records of  Palenque,  Copn  and  Tikal.   Rulers of Palenque Rulers of Copn Rulers of Tikal Important Facts about the Maya Civilization Population:  There is no complete population estimate, but it must have been in the millions. In the 1600s, the Spanish reported that there were between 600,000-1 million people living in the Yucatan peninsula alone. Each of the larger cities probably had populations in excess of 100,000, but that doesnt count the rural sectors that supported the larger cities. Environment:  The Maya Lowland region below 800 meters is tropical with rainy and dry seasons. There is little-exposed water except in lakes in limestone faults, swamps, and  cenotes-natural sinkholes in the limestone that are geologically a result of the  Chicxulub crater  impact. Originally, the area was blanketed with multiple canopied forests  and mixed vegetation. The Highland Maya regions include a string of volcanically active mountains. Eruptions have dumped rich volcanic ash throughout the region, leading to deep rich soils and  obsidian  deposits. Climate in the highland is temperate, with rare frost. Upland forests originally were mixed pine and deciduous trees. Writing, Language, and Calendars of the Maya Civilization Mayan language:  The various groups spoke nearly 30 closely related languages and dialects, including the Mayan and Huastec Writing:  The Maya had 800 distinct  hieroglyphs, with the first evidence of language written on stela and walls of buildings beginning ca 300 BC. Bark cloth paper  codexes  were being used no later than the 1500s, but all but a handful were destroyed by Spanish Calendar:  The so-called long count calendar was invented by Mixe-Zoquean speakers, based on the extant  Mesoamerican Calendar. It was adapted by the classic period Maya ca 200 AD. The earliest inscription in long count among the Maya was made dated AD 292. Earliest date listed on the long count calendar is about August 11, 3114 BC, what the Maya said was the founding date of their civilization. The first dynastic calendars were being used by about 400 BC Extant written records of the Maya:  Popul Vuh, extant Paris, Madrid, and Dresden  codices, and the papers of  Fray Diego de Landa  called Relacion. Astronomy The Dresden Codex dated to the Late Post Classic/Colonial period (1250-1520) includes astronomical tables on Venus and Mars, on eclipses, on seasons and the movement of the tides. These tables chart the seasons with respect to their civic year, predict solar and lunar eclipses and tracked the motion of the planets. Maya Civilization Ritual Intoxicants:  Chocolate  (Theobroma), blache (fermented honey and an extract from the balche tree; morning glory seeds, pulque (from agave plants),  tobacco, intoxicating enemas,  Maya Blue Sweat baths:  Piedras Negras, San Antonio,  Cerà ©n Astronomy:  The Maya tracked the sun, moon, and Venus. Calendars include eclipse warnings and safe periods, and almanacs for tracking Venus. Observatories:  built at  Chichà ©n Itz Maya Gods:  What we know of Maya religion is based on writings and drawings on codices or temples. A few of the gods include: God A or Cimi or Cisin (god of death or flatulent one), God B or  Chac, (rain and lightning), God C (sacredness), God D or Itzamna (creator or scribe or learned one), God E (maize), God G (sun), God L (trade or merchant), God K or Kauil, Ixchel or Ix Chel (goddess of fertility), Goddess O or Chac Chel. There are others; and in the Maya pantheon, there are sometimes combined gods, glyphs for two different gods appearing as one glyph. Death and Afterlife:  Ideas about death and the afterlife are little known, but the entry to the underworld was called Xibalba or Place of Fright Mayan Economics See the  Maya Economics  page for information about trade, currency, agriculture, and other economic issues. Maya Politics Warfare:  The Maya had  fortified sites, and military themes and battles events are illustrated in Maya art by the Early Classic period. Warrior classes, including some professional warriors, were part of the Maya society. Wars were fought over territory, slaves, to avenge insults, and to establish succession. Weaponry:  axes, clubs, maces, throwing spears, shields, and helmets, bladed spears Ritual sacrifice:  offerings thrown into  cenotes, and placed in tombs; the Maya pierced their tongues, earlobes, genitals or other body parts for  blood sacrifice. animals (mostly jaguars) were sacrificed, and there were human victims, including  high-ranking  enemy warriors who were captured, tortured and sacrificed Mayan Architecture The first steles are associated with the Classic period, and the earliest is from Tikal, where a stele is dated AD 292. Emblem glyphs signified specific rulers and a specific sign called ahaw is today interpreted as lord. Distinctive architectural styles of the Maya include (but arent limited to) Rio Bec (7th-9th centuries AD, block masonry palaces with towers and central doorways at sites such as Rio Bec, Hormiguero, Chicanna, and Becan); Chenes (7th-9th centuries AD, related to the Rio Bec but without the towers at Hochob Santa rosa Xtampack, Dzibilnocac);  Puuc  (AD 700-950, intricately designed facades and doorjambs at Chichà ©n Itz,  Uxmal, Sayil, Labna, Kabah); and Toltec (or Maya Toltec AD 950-1250, at  Chichà ©n Itz. Archaeological Sites of the Maya Really the best way to learn about the Maya is to go and visit the archaeological ruins. Many of them are open to the public and have museums and even gift shops on the sites. You can find Maya archaeological sites in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and in several Mexican states. Major Maya Cities Belize:  Batsub  Cave,  Colha,  Minanha,  Altun Ha,  Caracol,  Lamanai,  Cahal Pech,  Xunantunich El Salvador:  Chalchuapa,  Quelepa Mexico:  El Tajin,  Mayapan,  Cacaxtla,  Bonampak,  Chichà ©n Itz,  Cob  ,  Uxmal,  Palenque Honduras:  Copan,  Puerto Escondido Guatemala:  Kaminaljuyu,  La Corona (Site Q),  Nakbe,  Tikal  ,  Ceibal,  Nakum More on the Maya Books on the Maya  A collection of reviews of a handful of the recent books on the Maya. Finding Maya Site Q. Mysterious Site Q was one of the sites referred to on glyphs and temple inscriptions and researchers believe they have finally located it as the site of La Corona. Spectacles and Spectators: Walking Tour of Maya Plazas. Although when you visit archaeological ruins of the Maya, you generally look at the tall buildingsbut a lot  of interesting things are to be learned about the plazas, the big open spaces between the temples and palaces at the major Maya cities.