Character Blog.

Today, during our "character exercises", I believe that it truly helped me think outside the box. As I witnessed other's performances, it'd help me realize that my partner and I need to make sure that our story is exciting, and will keep the reader wanting more. For example, as we watched Kathleen Estrella, I noticed that she delivered her character perfectly! She brought her characters to life and wasn't afraid of letting loose; she definately inspired us to make sure we know about our character in full detail.

One of our characters is Livia, who is the step-mother of Natalia Donato, and the emperor's wife. The way we portrayed her was a bitter woman with an attitude, but she needs more spunk. After consulting with our student teacher Candace, she made it clear that Livia, in ancient Rome times, used people as if they were pawns on a chessboard. It made us thrive to bring out the "evilness" Livia truly has. We really love our other characters, although we need to change Tiberius' appearance, because in reality he was an ugly and an unintelligent man. Other than that, we think our character's personalities shall be presented beautifully in our graphic novel.

We're making this story dramatic, a "soap opera" if you will, which was how it was back then when Octavian forced Julia (Natalia in our story) to marry Tiberius, Livia's son. Today's mini drama 101 lesson, helped us out efficiently and helped up come up with a brighter story plot, and gave us great ideas to append. I have high hopes for our story line, and I believe it will be successful.

Persepolis.

Persepolis Blog

Previously in Humanities, we have been reading the book Persepolis which is about a veritable girl named Marji going through a great depression due to the economic and religious issues going on in Iran. She grew up in the 1980s which was when the Islamic Revolution took place. As she grows up, she hears and sees a lot of situations that goes on throughout the whole book. Her parents and she were liberal and decadent, but the country was turning fundamental and based itself on religion, which was hard for most of the citizens to handle because they were secular families. Marji was a blunt type of a girl, she wasn’t scared to fight for her beliefs; she resembled her mother. As the years went on, she turned into a brave teenager, and helped her family get through rough times.

It all began in 700 B.C when Cyrus the great was the emperor. In 1953 the Reza Shah returned and hell broke loose. The American’ and Britain’s used the Shah as a puppet to westernize and modernize Iran. In 1979, the shah was overthrown because he was trying to start the Islamic Revolution. Also in that same year, Marji applied a secular school where boys and girls were together, but then a year later, they were separated and the whole veil law was enforced. In 1980, Suddam Hussien invaded Iran and the war began. Marji wanted to engage in the demonstrations that were held, but it was forbidden. Marjane, Marji, was considered a martyr because she had strong beliefs and didn’t want anyone to get in the way of that. She considered people who went to jail, as “heroes”. Her family kept that her uncle was in jail for a period of time, a clandenstine; they didn’t want her knowing that part of his life. Later on, during the most significant time of her life, the war began to climax and her parents sent her off to Austria, to live a better life and to get away from the war.

I think that once Marji goes to Austria, she’s going to have a reservoir of problems getting used to a new place. She left her family, and doesn’t know anyone, so of course she’s going to have issues to deal with and try to find out who she is as a person. She lived a hard life in Iran for the past years and I know it’s going to be difficult for her to get settled; she’s going to feel out of place. I think she’s going to get into some type of trouble on purpose to have a reason to go back to her family in Iran. Once she returns to Iran, I think she’s going to have a hard time getting used to the change that she and Iran has overcome.

Views on Debate.

The process of researching an issue and a candidate has been hard. The most difficult part was having to protest your candidates views, even if you didn't agree with their opinions. My candidate was Hillary Clinton, although I respect her for being a strong-willed woman, I don't believe she's the right person to become president. Barack Obama is all about the working person and that's what I admire.

"The heavy cost of light skin" in Mali.

In Mali, there are women that embellish pallid skin ; using creams that bleach their skin. They believe that it makes their appearance mesmeric, when in reality it could cause skin cancer. Doctors explain that it will be salubrious for women to stop using these deadly creams because it is a health hazard. Also, women believe that it would make them salacious and men would accept them more. One ebullient male musician, Al Hassan Soumali, stated that Malian men don't like when women bleach their skins and advises them to change their minds.

Youtube: Commerical Response.

The Dove "Onslaught" commercial is intense! It showed how today's society is and how the media effects children; at the end you see the same little girl, with make-up on. I find it repulsive how these famous ADULTS know they are idols of young children, but portray themselves badly. For example, Paris Hilton, I dislike her because she seems to have a fake personality. I know that there are kids out there that look up to her, but what message is she sending out to children by making sex tapes and getting plastic surgery, to fit her conceited ways? To me, I feel as if I were to be famous, I'd actually be a good role model and not be fake like these other stars! The only famous person I know that seems to be real is Tyra Banks; although I'm sure there are others out there. I love watching her show because she discusses REAL problems and let's people knows that she has flaws and shows her values. Tyra Banks cares for today's youth because she notices the influence stars have over them. I think that famous people need to take a day to see how their living their lives and how they have an impact on younger citizen's lives. I remember a time when Tyra Banks was shown in a one piece bathing suit on vacation and was put in a magazine being called fat and ugly! As I read more about it, she claimed that she was happy the way she is and doesn't need others telling her different; I applaud her for that. Everyone has flaws, everyone has problems, but that's not an excuse to be ignorant, although you know what you're doing and the consequences. This video made me think about our seminar about ignorance and what beauty is.

Watch this video, it's amazing. See, not even supermodels look like themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2gD80jv5ZQ

Socratic Seminar.

Wow, I'm surprised how different the Spartans and ancient Greeks live their lives. I always thought that the Greeks respected their woman, but I was shocked to discover that it was nothing close to that. I respect the Greeks culture, but I feel that their values were disrespectful towards women. I was astonished by the fact that "prostitutes" were known as the highest class for a woman. The reason why I quoted the word prostitute is because they resemble geishas; they accompanied men to a get together known as a symposium, where they held intellectual conversations, gambling, and drinking. I agreed with Mirit Friedman when she asked; "How did they know that it was Socrates that officially stated "his" philosophy? Plato could have wrote down the wrong notes."
The four "cardinal" virtues; prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. I believe that all four of these virtues are in the eyes of the beholder. Everyone has their own values and opinions, Who are we to judge them?

Ignorance.
Socrates believed that cheating, stealing, and basically any wrong doing is a consequence of ignorance. As Colin White said, people think about what they're about to do and give a thought about it before taking action; I completely agree. I feel as if they know what they're consequences are going to be, but they're ready to risk what they have and are too selfish to realize they're oblivious acts. Philosophers made these questions for a reason; to make people think outside of the box. The world is so wrapped up in what they have and don't realize some of the things that are going on in the world. What's good? What's bad? What's Ignorance.

Perfection?

Youth and Perfection.
Today's youth has certainly change to my knowledge. I still believe that children are beautiful to have, but things have changed. Children these days seem to act like they're 30 years old. What happened? Maybe it's just the kids I know, but they seem disrespectful. For example, the other day I was at urgent care and there was this little girl sitting with her brothers and her father. She asked to play a game with my sister which I kindly allowed her to play, but once we started playing she was rude to my sister. It stunned me because this girl was only 6 years old and telling other children to "shut up"? It's quite interesting, but I guess that's the way things are now. I've seen kids, as young as 4 or 5, back talk their parents or even strangers! I really feel horrible about today's society and how the media is portraying things. Kids are like sponges; anything they see and hear, they repeat.