Ben Kaczmar GVSU

 I never knew that pirates ended up uniting with their enemies when the merchants lost! It does make sense that the losing party would follow along with enemy pirates to keep their own lives. I don't know a lot about pirates, but my impression had always been that they would fight to kill and destroy the enemy. The fact that pirates actually acquired merchants to help has changed my perspective. Glad to learn something new from your post, Joe!

 I really like how you compared the example from the movie to today's standards. It's interesting how materialistic objects can portray what someone is worth or at least appear that way. Much of what is perceived by others of ourselves is what we like. Just because someone takes an interest in something doesn't mean their personality is always the same. I think that humans are too quick to judge each other based on outward appearance instead of personal interactions.

 I thought the city of Potosí in current-day Bolivia was very similar to many towns in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. People tend to live around where the money is, and in both Michigan's U.P. and Potosí, there was labor needed for the mining industry. Although Potosí and the U.P. had very different primary mining resources available in copper and silver, the results of the mining industry remained the same. Large populations developed around the mining communities because that was where resources were most necessary. Additionally, many of the miners in both Potosí and the U.P. had to deal with extremely difficult conditions. A lot of the work was done by immigrants or people who had come from far away for the work. The miners did not have many other choices other than to work in the mines because of their social statuses and backgrounds. Consequently, the mining industry in both communities created booming trade industries. The Upper Peninsula would grow as a series of mining tow...

  What a powerful message! It's crazy how expectations and demands can be vastly different from each other. I think that by having completely opposite expectations and demands, it allows people with power to maintain it. There is no way to win for women or any other group fighting against injustice. At some point or another, it is important to realize that we need to break the cycle to change perspectives.

 Even though I'm a guy, I can relate to the pressures of finding a relationship. Nobody has directly told me to get into a relationship, but I'll still get questions about the topic from adults that I hardly know. My worth is determined by myself and myself only, so it's important to not worry about what others want. If I'm happy, then it's perfectly okay to not be in a relationship.

 I enjoyed reading the book Lieutenant Nun  this week. Catalina had such an interesting personality that I never would have learned about otherwise. I think the main reason I found the book to be so entertaining was the fact that it almost seemed like a fictitious story! It seemed like every other chapter Erauso killed someone or went on some ridiculous adventure. I was amazed at how many times Erauso was able to win her fights and also avoid prison. If you watched a movie about Erauso, you would probably say that it was too unrealistic; that's how crazy her life really was! Even after suffering injuries, Erauso always found ways to continue fighting. I think the main reason for this was her boldness. Erauso saw herself as a man, and, as a result, took on many masculine traits. At that time in history, women didn't have the ability to go out and travel all over the place fighting everyone they crossed paths with. Erauso reshaped her own identity to reflect what she wanted to d...

  What's up, Dylan? I ended up writing about very similar things in my own blog, so I definitely agree with your point that the peer editing was very helpful. Someone else looking at your paper can reveal some mistakes that you never would have seen otherwise. I also liked looking at another paper because I could see how others interpreted the same prompt as me in unique ways.

 Hello, Annika! Something that I wish I did on my paper was researching earlier on. I think that I did a good job with time management, but it would have been even easier if I had made more notes as we read class material. For the next paper, I hope to be more alert to specific evidence as I'm learning that could come in handy. Now that we've all experienced the "process" of blogs, assignments, and papers, I think it will only get easier from here to the end of the semester.

 There wasn't a whole lot of new content this week, and the one thing that we did cover, the Inca Garcilaso commentaries, I already covered in last week's post. It was quite the experience working on my first paper for college. I was managed my time pretty well in writing my paper, but there are some things I can still improve for the next one. The first thing that I think I need to work on is incorporating more sources. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have lots of solid information from one or two sources, but my arguments would be even stronger if I could connect additional sources together. Another thing that I personally struggle with is sentence structure. I always feel like I'm repeating myself or using the same syntax, so I enjoyed doing the peer editing. The peer editing was really helpful because I realized incorporating a little bit more information could add to my paper. Another reason why I enjoyed the peer editing was that I got to see a completely diff...

 Hello Linnea! In my own post, I thought that it was also really interesting how Garcilaso could show a unique perspective on history. Garcilaso, as a descendant of Huascar and the Spanish, displays himself as one of the most unique writers in history. Garcilaso understood he had a special persona that could be used to his advantage in presenting ideas. There aren't too many people today who are intertwined with two vastly different cultures. It's important to look at more than just the facts of history such as personal background, cultural norms, and connecting relationships.

 Hello, Maddie! I really like how you found a connection between gold and the Spanish conquest. I remember learning about "glory, guns, and gold" in high school. It's hard to stop anyone who has the power to do whatever they want. The Spanish were just as willing, if not, more willing than the native populations to capture more gold. As a result, Spanish technology combined with strong desires left indigenous populations like the Incas in a tough situation.

      Something that interested me from this week of class was the Garcilaso document that we read about. More specifically, the story of Atahualpa and Huascar caught my attention. We always learn about modern history's alliances and enemies, yet these same types of relationships existed centuries ago. Human nature fuels conflict and agreement, and the struggle for power between Atahualpa, Huascar, and the Spanish is no different. You want to have the bully on your side because it will serve to your advantage and as a detriment to the enemy. This story reminds me a little bit of World War II. The United States was brought into an ongoing war and made a huge difference by helping the side that was "losing" to victory. A very similar occurrence happened with the Spanish as Atahualpa feared an alliance between Huascar (Allies) and the Spanish (U.S.).       It's really neat how Garcilaso was very self-aware regarding his own writing. He knew that his ...

 I really appreciate the points you made regarding perspective, mostly with Cortés. On one hand, most Spaniards see Cortés as a hero. On the other, indigenous populations saw Cortés as a villain. Although there were some truths on both sides, Cortés was probably a combination of the two. He is, in a way, strongly stereotyped by the two sides to this day. Diaz's memoirs are some of the best examples that try to point out that Cortés wasn't as "power-hungry" for land and resources as portrayed, but he was also not as much of a leader as seen in history.

 I think that it's really neat how new information regarding history is always being revealed. Different subjects like science can help us to learn more about the world and our past. Things similar to footprints can reveal a lot about our world and how everything fits together. I really enjoy hearing about new discoveries relating to history, so I'm glad I read your post and learned something new!