Humanities

Welcome to My 2011- 2012 Humanities Page.

Course Description

In
11^th grade Humanities, we will endeavor to “deconstruct”
America.   First semester, we will
critically examine America’s stories, fictional and factual, in attempts to make
meaning of our national identity.   We
will read numerous works of literature, historical documents and other media
sources to explore how America’s story has been shaped by a multitude of
different perspectives and ideas.  Second
semester, we will investigate the rhetoric of the modern and postmodern
world.  We will examine how America’s
paradigm has evolved in the age of technology and mass media.  We will also explore how our own individual
ideologies are shaped by the experience of being an American at this crucial,
fascinating moment in history.  

11^th grade Humanities is designed to prepare
you for the work you will do in college.  As such, you should expect to read and write and research and think
rigorously and vigorously.   We will
focus on developing skills that will help you succeed in the Humanities in
college such as critical analysis, making and supporting sophisticated claims,
internalizing your own writing/learning process, and managing your time in order
to carry a robust workload.  As in
college, a large part of your work will be done independently, and you will have
to take a great deal of responsibility in managing that learning for
yourself. 

Perspectives: During my first semester of Junior Humanities i have grown different perspectives about America. As many of you may know, American history has the tendency to leave some parts out of the story. This semester i had learned many new things about columbus, it is well known that he was one of the first to discover America, but it is not commonly known that massive slaughters of the Natives and Africans at the time. This is only one of the many things that have come to light to me this semester. my perspective is that history is not always accurate, the only thing that we have to go off of in our day is the primary sources of the time, and still, that is only one perspective.

Rhetorical Food Painting Project

What a Corny World We Live In

Humanity has an illusion that they have a variety of food options, from all different types of meats to all kinds of snack foods. What humanity does not realize is that our food variety is very limited, and corn is the main source of food that we consume daily. How could this be you may ask? Well, when you buy industrialized food the main ingredient in their product is corn. Because corn is so cheap and there is so much of it we have found ways to include it in almost everything possible. Instead of actual sugar in your sweet treats like candy bars and sodas, it is replaced with high fructose corn syrup which tastes just like sugar but is cheaper. Even the meat that you eat is made from corn. Take the cow for example; cows were made to eat grass. It has taken centuries for the cow to develop the digestive system to eat grass but food industries start to feed it corn instead of grass (because it’s cheaper). Problems start to occur when an animal is forced to eat something it cannot digest. Not only is your meat’s only nutrients from corn, but your meat was also very sick and drowned with Anti-Biotics to keep it alive just long enough for slaughter. Industrial cows and any industrial animal for that matter do not live very happy lives, they never get exercise and they live in their manure along with the hundreds of other animals compacted in a much to small of a space with them. The industrial meat is then shipped thousands of miles to a fast food joint near you.

When you go to your local super market and look at the ingredients list on a snack food like Cheetos or twinkles, how many of the words can you actually recognize? Well the majority of all those ingredients were derived from corn one way or another. The Major food industries use corn as much as possible, but not just any corn. The corn that all these food companies use is corn that is genetically modified to grow better, bigger and stay fresher longer. Not only are they genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) but they are also sprayed with chemicals to keep bugs and pests away. The corn that gets hauled across hundreds of miles to reach your local super markets and fast food restaurants is non-organic and scientifically proven to be harmful to the human body over long periods of time. 

The perspective that I am trying to portray through my rhetorical painting is that all the major food industries use corn in all of their products, but they give society the illusion of diversity. In my painting I show a corn field with cobs of corn sticking out from the corn stalks, all the cobs of corn have a major food industry logo painted over them. Food industries like Kraft, McDonalds, Hostess, Coca Cola and Nestle, this represents all the corn that is used in their products. These food industries are all guilty of using the non-organic corn in all of their food. I chose to use a darker tone for the corn cobs and corn stalks because I wanted to emphasis on the negativity associated with food industries using industrialized corn. I also included a crop duster plane flying over the corn field spraying pesticides over the corn field to represent the pesticides added to the corn. Corn surrounds the food industries and all of what we consume unless we choose to shop locally and organic.

Reflection:
I am very great full that my class got the chance to study industrial foods. I was aware of all the pesticides, commercialized animals and genetically modified organisms before but now I feel so much more educated about what I eat. Because of this project I have actually started to look at my diet differently, I have cut back a lot of fast food not only because It's unhealthy but because I have no idea what I am really eating. I have realized that I am very fortunate to have parents that believe in organic and grass fed animals for food. I was also very happy with the outcome of my painting because it made my vision come alive, I feel like it shows a lot of rhetoric towards major food industries using commercialized GMO'd and pesticide corn.

Humanities Civil War Project Link
http://civilwarhumanites.blogspot.com/

Humanities Blog


American Revolution Synthesis 
What is commonly taught in American elementary and middle school textbooks about the American Revolution usually does not tell the full story. In textbooks they manipulate the story in order for the main character to be symbolized as a hero. In textbooks they wash down what really took place, history does not have clear plots and characters. What is not commonly known about the Revolution is that they stated their independence not only for their freedom but because they were eager to move westward into native land in order to make more profit. The Revolution was the result of the colonies greed for power and money.

During this time the British were ruling over the American colonies, the British made an agreement with the natives of the land that the Appalachian mountains were specifically native land. No colonist had the right to claim land and grow crops past that native line. As you would imagine this caused a problem with the colonists, they were already eager to move onto the land and some had already purchased land there and were not allowed on it.

In the year 1763 the British won a war against the French, this was know as the French and Indian war. Although they defeated the French the war had put them in a lot of debt. In order to pay for the costly war they decided to tax the colonies. Many tax acts were passed through the years, for example the Stamp Act was passed which required every paper document to bare a revenue stamp purchase. Every harsh act that was passed made the colonist more rebellious, this was only adding onto the fact that they were wanting to expand.

Finally in 1774 the colonist had set up the continental congress because of the taxation. This was an illegal political body but it was a step closer to Independence. After it was set up the Continental Congress decided to seperate from Britain and then the Decloration of Independence was written. Shortly after the Revolutionary War began. The French were searching for revenge on the British because of losing the French and Indian War so they sided with the colonist. The Revolutionary war was won in 1777. Once The colonies were Independent the Appalachian mountain treaty between the natives and the British was broken. The colonist migrated west and took over native land in order to gain more profit, all for their greed and need for power.










Crash Blog
Racism is still very common in the United States. This film is a great example of this, the character in the film who was played by Sandra Bullock had a very strong opinion about other races. When her and her husband were walking to their car they see two African American people and she gets very cautious. Due to stereotypes thoughts like thinking the African Americas are dangerous would be common in some peoples minds. Even though you wouldn't consider yourself a racist person the stereotypical thought might always cross your mind. another stereotypes that occurred in the film was treating Mexicans like gang members just because their Mexican, when they can really be good people. Sometimes it just depends on how you were raised, like the "Nature" Vs. "Nurture" concept. I believe that racism has to have had a part in your life instead of being born with it. Some people are racist because that's how they were raised and the kind of environment they were surrounded by, others might be the opposite.




Christopher Columbus Claim:
Christopher Columbus is viewed as a hero throughout many countries and many places celebrate him. What they might not know is that they are celevrating a man who was the cause of a massive genocide of the natives that were here before the Europeans. In todays world racism and slavery is not tollerated, because of all the things he did to the natives todays society would see him as a villin, but because he was in a century where very little was known and it was believed that monsters inhabited the Americas. Different perspectives were formed. What we might see today as cruel and inhumane, they would have seen it as a normal thing due to how little they new. Christopher Columbus is not a hero but a "Great sailor and explorer, and an excellent navigator by the stars." Hero History: Christopher Columbus