mod 7

Reading through the book it says the four most important features of Andean worldview are collectivity, reciprocity, transformation, and essence. The Andean worldview was very different than modern views on social structure. The way the build their society is amazing and very interesting. They really value the way they live. They believed in helping anyone, if they were better than them or not. I wish our world was more like that today. Collectivity is the idea that the whole is more important than its individual parts. Transformation is the idea that existence is constantly changing cyclically. Life leads to death which leads to life, the world is constantly revolving.The concept of essence is the belief of focusing on the process of gaining a result, instead of the actual result achieved from this process. If more of us thought like this today I believe that society would be so much different. Maybe even war free.

masks

all of the masks we got to see in the powerpoint were remarkable, especially how each had its own specific details and meanings in my opinion. but it really made me start to think about the masks that we "wear" today. when i think of a mask i think of hiding ones self, being secretive or even deceptive. i believe this to be true. while we do not have many occasions where we actually put a mask over our face, there are many times when we put on an invisible mask to fool those around us. 
for example, many women mask their faces everyday from those around them with make up. it has been ingrained in our minds that we must look beautiful and have perfect skin, eyes, lips, and make up helps us to achieve those goals. this "mask" may not change how we act but sometimes helps our confidence. on the other hand however, we sometimes do mask our actions and/or feelings from others from seeing how we may really be feeling. this sometimes can be a good thing, for example putting on a mask of happiness at work when you are having a bad day can help you make it through your day. this masking of feeling can be dangerous as well, because deceiving someone with a false feeing can cause problems with relationships and within your own life.

Module 3
I am very excited to be learning about such an interesting culture with so much to learn. I also think it is very sad how the Maya people go through so much conflict on their ways of life. No one should ever be judge for the way they live. I also think that all Maya art should be just as important as it was before. Every piece of art has a meaning and should be thought of more sacred than the last. Learning about how the Maya people were so fascinated with writing and the calender intrigues me because it seems like that's all they focused on which is awesome. Over 30 languages that is insane. I also find Menchu is a very smart person keeping her beliefs to herself to protect herself. Her quotes are very powerful to me because she stands up for what she believes in. Makes her a very powerful woman.

Week 1

Week 1

"Create a blog this week on your experience with Mexico or Guatemala, Belize, Honduras ...meaning have you been there? Are you from there? Whether you have or have not been there...give me three things that come to mind when you think about any of these countries and then explain why  those things remind you of that particular place. "

All of these places are beautiful from all of the pictures I have looked at. I hope one day I can see the beauty in person.

When I think of Mexico, I think of food, culture, and Poverty.

I think of food because, I know if I ever go to Mexico, I will be extremely excited to try Mexican food first hand. In America, Mexican food is delicious, but I'm sure the real deal is 10x better. Also when I think about Mexico, I think about the culture. There is so much to be learned. Mexican culture is well respected for its folk art and music traditions, many of them handed down from the early indigenous cultures. My grandmother has a bunch of Mexican art around her house that her father gave her, but she doesn't know much about it. I would love to learn more. Poverty also comes to my mind, because I've heard of a lot about how people are on the street selling things for so cheap trying to make a living. I just articles about it and it breaks my heart that families are living on less then two dollars a day. Some things in our world are unfair.