BLU

This may not have any real relevance to the topics recently discussed in class, but this video (among BLU's many others) are a geyser of inspiration in terms of visuals and, more prominently, creativity in using environment. This one's called "Big Bang Big Boom," and watching it is worth every second:

Man's Best Friend

This weekend I was given the task of watching my cousins dog while she went to Boston with her boyfriend & his family. This is nothing new as I've done it quite a few times already this year. Now the dog is a Yorkie, only 8 months old, and named Lucky. However, what always surprises me whenever I get to watch him is how attached I've become to him. What I find especially fascinating about this dog is his unique 'personality'. There are so many reasons why dogs are considered such good companions, even a persons' best friend, and so I've always thought one of the main reasons is how unique their behavior can be, or in other words, their 'personality'. They're simply not all the same, and some of them are really one of a kind, and that's Lucky. Even some browsing through YouTube will give you plenty of examples of this. And everyone knows puppies in general are rather playful, but this dog is truly on a whole different level. The fact alone that he is so playful isn't so special, but his behavior is so spontaneous and just genuinely funny. And of course, no matter how tough of a day you've had, if you're somewhat tired, annoyed or sad, or what you've done or didn't that day, they are always just as excited to see you.

Travel

Going back a bit to my notes from the first class-- or rather, the first one I attended since I registered late.

We talked a little bit about whether we would've wanted to travel the world for the last two years of high school. A lot of people said they would have-- of course, this would be preferable to school for anyone and maybe if all expenses were covered by someone else then by all means...

But I think it would be better to grow up a bit more before exploring the world.

My first real trip outside of the country -- real meaning I was old enough to remember it -- was a family vacation to Costa Rica last summer. It lasted just a week but I saw a lot -- there was a lot of poverty to see there. But also happiness within poverty. The people living in little shacks on the beach didn't seem to know the supposed luxuries they were missing out on, so they weren't unhappy about missing out on them.

My next trip was this past January -- one crazy week in Barcelona before an intense three weeks in Morocco for a UMD study abroad program. The academic context provided a lot on this trip. I learned a lot about development, saw it at work first hand and formulated ideas on its rather terrible execution through discussions with my classmates. I'm not sure I would've been able to get as much out of the trip and the class -- even with the academic component -- if I hadn't learned about certain things over the previous two and a half years. The sociology and political science classes I had taken, internship experience I had and the discipline and interest I developed in the news were necessary to understanding this foreign country and its problems in the context of the rest of the world and today's global issues.

-- Carolina Hidalgo

Family Pics

It’s not an easy work to get family pictures from my mother in Korea. She doesn’t know how to scan the pictures, so I asked my best friend who lives in next to my apartment to send that pics to my email address. After my mother collected the pictures from my family album, she gave that pics to my friend. My friend scanned that pics and sent them to my email address.

I recieved about 30 family pictures. My mother said that most of old pictures are disappeared and they couldn't afford to take many pictures in the past. When I looked at the pictures, some pictures reminds me of the back in the day. At first time, when I heard this project, I didn't like it. I had to ask my mother to send the pictures and I don't have any idea how I am going to do with this work. I realized that I don't know many things about my family history in details. It's kind of shame on me that I was not interested in family's history. However, in this time, I heard stories about my family history from mom on the phone, and it will be a good chance to know my background and find my indentity too.

Mythology

So it seems to me that a few courses I have chosen to take this semester share similar themes. This course in particular has so many connections to my classical mythology course. I am currently studying Greek mythology, and so far we have been concentrating on many of the creation stories. Oedipus Rex many and these myths share the concept that the most powerful and looked up to characters committing some of the most horrific crimes known to man. Murder is considered to be one of the worst crimes in most societies. Murder in general is unforgivable, but when it is the murder of your own child or your parents is viewed as a much more heinous crime. Just like when Oedipus’ father was told that one day his son would over through him, many of the gods in Greek mythology where fearful that their children would attempt to take over. One early creation stories tells of Uranus the sky god and his wife Gaia or mother Earth. In order to keep them from over throwing him, Uranus imprisoned his and Gaia’s children in Tartrus (deep within the Earth), where they caused her great pain. Gaia in order to get revenge for her and her children forged a sickle and gave it to her youngest son Cronus to castrate Uranus. Cronus castrated his father and cast his testicles into the sea where the blood created the furies and nymphs, and out of his genitals came Aphodite the goddess of love. In keeping with tradition Uranus informs Cronus that his rule would be one day be overturned by his own son. Cronus decided that the only was he would be able to prevent this from happening would be to devour all the children he and his wife Rhea had. Rhea like Gaia and Oedipus’ mother did not agree with her husband discarding of their children, so when she had her sixth child Zeus she secretly hid him in a cave and gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow to fool him. Rhea hid Zeus until he was ready to fulfill his fate. Zeus splits his father open and frees all his siblings. Zeus takes over and remains the god of gods in most mythology. The image attached depicts Cronus devouring one of is children, Poseidon god of the sea. These myths have many things in common to Oedipus Rex. From the theme of kings being over thrown by their own kin, the constant of incest, to prophases that tell of such horrific events. All of the gods and goddesses are related and they constantly sleep with each other and have affairs with siblings, just as Oedipus committed incest when he sleeps with his mother. These tales also display that even the most sophisticated person is subject to Aros or the pleasure principle and may not be able to overcome it. They are also gruesome displays of moral lesions and cautionary undertones.

Futur Truk