12/14/2009
A) What was the importance (or infamy) of Bunce Island?
Bunce Island would be considered infamous rather than famous. It was one of about 40 slave trading posts that European merchants built along the west coast of Africa. This island is where the slaves were purchased, imprisoned, and loaded on the ships that took them on the middle passage to America.
B) Who was Edward Hopper and why was he important?
Edward Hopper is the best-known American realist of the inter-war period. Some of his paintings include Apartment Houses, Lighthouse Hill, and Nighthawks.
C) Who was Telemann?
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German composer that mastered several musical instruments at a very young age. Telemann is often described as the most prolific composer in history. We heard some of Telemann’s work at the Chicago Symphany.
D) What was India’s Great Kumbha Mela Pilgrimage?
The Gret Kumbha MEla Pilgrimage is an enormous gathering that takes place four times every 12 years. Several events take place during this gathering including theatrical performances and the athletic and devotional practices of holy men. At the end of their journey, the pilgrims bath in sacred waters.
E) What is the Great Rift?
The Great Rift is located in East Africa. The Great Rift Valley has been a rich source of fossils that have enabled scientists to study human evolution. One of the richest areas is the area known as the Piedmont.
F) What’s a savanna?
A savanna is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being too small or too widely spaced so that the canopy does not close.
G) What is Porte de L’Afrique?
Porte de L’Afrique is a port into Africa. A painting by Roger Broders was made of Porte de L’Afrique.
H) Identify 3 ingenious innovations of the people of MesoAmerica.
1) Their ability to master the making of weaponry
2) The invention of agriculture
3) They formed a type of writing called, glyphs
2. On our trip to Chicago, we visited many museums and viewed a great deal of art. It wasn’t until the DuSable Museum that I really began to appreciate the art that I was viewing. Our guide, DeMarcus, told us to look at the name of the painting, the date in which it was painted, and the name of the artist who constructed it before looking at the painting. He told us to do this because this may help us understand what the artist was feeling at the time. When we visited the Art Institute, I didn’t understand most of the paintings, especially the Picasso’s. Picasso liked to make paintings of people with body parts in an odd arrangement. Looking back on his work, I can now make a slightly more educated guess of what he was trying to get across to the viewer. Picasso may have been trying to represent how messed up and unusual the human species is, and possibly that not everyone is made the same.
At the Islamic Center, we did not see a great deal of art. We did however see the stone temple that was placed in the direction of Mecca. Our guide at the Islamic Center told us that in order to lead the sermon you don’t have to be especially qualified. Anyone who is of Islam faith and has read the Koran can lead the sermon, and I thought that was kind of interesting. Our guide informed us that when they pray, they pray directly to God and that is why they don’t have any crosses or items like that. At the Spertus Museum, our guide showed us some artifacts that had been collected and given to the Museum of time. There were several artifacts, but to me the ones that stuck out the most were the toys. The little animals each had a mate in every column except for the column that represented the Holocaust. In that column there was only one animal and it was a bird. The bird was supposed to signify that the only way you could get out was to be a bird. We then went up to the art gallery. Each item in there was supposed to mean something to you and our guide repeatedly asked us that. “What does it mean to you?”
4. The first night we were in Chicago, we went to the Chicago Council and heard Reza Azlan speak. He spoke to us about what is going on in Afghanistan and the other troubled countries in the Middle East. Reza told us of the dividing line that separates the east from the west. The east consists of the nationalists or Islamists and the west consists of the transnationalists or jihadists. After listening to Reza speak and after listening to Dr. Ali speak, it makes me wonder who was telling the truth. Dr. Ali said that women were greatly respected in the Islamic community, but Reza said that women were very much mistreated. I would like to see the two of them sit in a room together and see what would happen. Reza told us that he believes that President Obama is not thinking realistically in his views on Palestine. Reza believes that Obama’s actions are actually going to hinder the progression of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Listening to Reza, I believe that we are getting ourselves in too deep and it is going to take a disaster for Obama to realize this. By that time, however, it will be too late.
Posted at 9:23 AM by Riley Watkins