12/14/2009
A. Bunce Island was infamous for its slave trading. It was the largest British slave castle on the west coast of Africa.
B. Edward Hopper is an American realist painter who painted about the American way of life.
C. Telemann is considered as one of the best German composers of all time. He was a self- taught musician who used different styles of music to make his masterpieces.
D. Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage. It is held four times every twelve years.
E. The Great Rift Valley is a continuous trench, which is 3,700mi in length, that runs from Northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in East Africa.
F. A savanna is a flat grassland, which are often located in tropical or subtropical regions.
G. Port de L'Afrique is a port which connects France to Africa. The name means the door to Africa.
H. 1. Irrigation
2. Weapons
3. Farming
Essays:
2. Art is very influiencial based on society and beliefs. At each exhibit we went to the art was different because of different the different cultures that were being represented. The first place we went to was the Islamic Center, which had only one piece of art. This was a large painting that had 99 names for God. The reason for the lack of art was that it is Islamic culture that they should not worship idols and that their religious center should only be used for prayer and nothing else. The second place we went to was the Art Museum, which contained art from every time period possible. The art here changed from the different time periods. In the ancient eras, art was based on religion. Artists created scultures of their gods and praised them through their art, but as the years went on paintings changed from religion to other views. Modern artists are more abstract compared to these ancient painters. The third place we went to was the Spertus Center. There we saw all sorts of art and artifacts. The theme to this exhibit was "What does it mean to YOU?" Every painting or artifact had a meaning and what the goal of this exhibit was is that they wanted us to dig deeper and find a meaning for each. Though the answers may be differnt, each item would have some meaning. The last place we went to was the DuSable Museum. This museum was very historic in that it had artifacts and paintings that told stories. The story was that of Africa. Art their had alot of meaning and some paintings told stories of the slave trade or hard times. At that museum I learned something very important and it was how to better understand art. Don't just look at the painting, but try and get some back ground on it. Know the artist, where he is from, the time period, etc. This all will help explain even the weirdest paintings.
4. The first night, we got the privilage to hear Reza Aslan speak at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Aslan spoke about the Middle Eastern problem and how he thinks it is going. He first talked about how Obama is not being a realist when it comes to solving the Middle East's problems. He feels that his goals are way to high and he needs to take his attention of the terrorists because they aren't going to change. He also talked about a dividing line that separates the east in west. The east is made up of Islamists or Nationalists and the west is made up of Jihadists or transnationalists. This is were the speech started to get interesting to me. Earlier in the three week, we got to listen to Dr. Ali and she talked about how women are held high and repected, this was very different from Aslan's thoughts. He talked about how they were often mistreated and abused. I would love to hear a debate from the two and figure out for myself who is right.
Posted at 9:40 AM by Michael Cagle