Ben Kaczmar GVSU

 Hello, Brooke! I also had a lot of fun doing dance lessons during the year. The experience of this class wouldn't have been the same if we were in a classroom the entire time. I also hope to be able to use some of my new dance moves in the future, but we'll see if I actually have a time and place for them. 

 It's been quite the eventful semester in this class in terms of readings, papers, and assignments; however, overall, I have enjoyed this class more than any other. I've made a lot of connections on a personal level with my classmates that I haven't experienced compared to in my other classes. Speaking of being comfortable around our class, I really enjoyed the Rueda de Casino lessons with all of you. I don't think the experience of this class or the dance lessons would have felt the same without everyone being there with me. I've learned so much from everyone else after having gone to the same school district my whole life prior to Grand Valley. The ideas that some of you come open with have really challenged me to think in different ways for every single class we met. Even looking back at the email with all the Rueda de Casino dance moves that we learned the other day was shocking to me. It's incredible how we were all able to learn so many dance moves in less...

 Good evening, Lexie! I was also pretty shocked by the whole situation. It's so hard to put myself in another person's shoes in this instance, but I would have been infuriated if someone close to me had been hurt or killed and an investigation had willingly been avoided through excuses. Simply put, it's just morally wrong when dealing with the death of a human-being to not do everything possible to give closure to those grieving. The government should serve the people, not ignore them.

 I enjoyed reading the first part about Rigoberta Menchu this week because it was something completely new for me to read about and enjoy. Something that I noticed in the book that kind of surprised me was how Menchu portrayed her culture to her readers. Although this sounds kind of obvious, Menchu was telling her own story as a Latin American woman. When I have learned about indigenous cultures or even Native American cultures here in the United States, I feel like many resources haven't accurately portrayed many aspects of history. After reading the first part of , Rigoberta Menchu , I was surprised to see how Menchu viewed her own culture and other cultures as well. Compared to what I have learned in history, Menchu is very honest and realistic whereas other resources now feel almost fake in a way. It's hard to describe how I feel, but this book has helped me better understand how America and Europe have influenced how we view Latin America sometimes even more than Latin Ame...

 Good evening, Seth! I found our discussions on poetry to be very insightful and helpful for our critical thinking skills. At the first time of reading, the context of the poems wasn't stated revealed in. For myself, I did a little bit of research just to familiarize myself about the poems before class. I found that learning about the authors a little beforehand helped me understand the meanings behind the poems. Our class discussions then helped further develop my thoughts, which helped me and everyone else with our interpretations.  

 For this week, I enjoyed studying the poems on the Cuban Revolution. Yes, one of the benefits of studying poetry is that it's short, but it almost always has a significant meaning. I found our discussion of Guillen's poem "I Have" to be interesting. One point that stood out to me and was basically what I said in my discussion question was that Cuba has changed and is living in the present in the setting of the poem. The phrases "I have" and "I can" are present tense phrases that show what Guillen has gained at has at that moment. Everything that has happened with the Cuban Revolution has led to the peace that Guillen feels.  Cuba has changed in Guillen's eyes for the better. In a way, Guillen feels that he and the rest of Cuba deserve the positive changes that have happened to the nation. This is especially reciprocated in the last line where Guillen says, "I have what was coming to me." I know that we mostly talked about the poem fo...

 This week was a very memorable experience for me. It's been quite a long time since I've gone on a school field trip. Going to the Detroit Institute of Arts was a great experience for me because I had never gone there before in my life. After going through the museum, I'm surprised I had never visited before. I feel like my family always visits just about every museum we come across, so it was nice to discover something completely new. I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone from the class. I think being there as a group with Professor Serrata and Professor Stark along with the tour guide for Rivera's mural made the experience more meaningful than an ordinary visit. All the messages, stories, and images of Rivera's murals were astounding to me. What really took me aback was how Rivera painted four absolutely massive walls in less than a year. On top of the sheer size of the paintings, the images included had so many intricate messages and details in quality. R...

 Good evening, Emma! I think the way that you claim how Evita represents Argentine culture as a whole is absolutely correct. Especially in the book, you can see both sides of the spectrum from those who adored her and those who despised her. To add on to your claim, I think the author used the uncomfortable scenes to purposefully draw attention to how high emotions were running in Argentina. Arguments in general will always have people on opposite sides, but they might find a compromise. I think the book portrays an idea that Argentina is not willing to compromise over anything, as seen through Eva Perón.

 Before this week, I had only vaguely heard of Eva Perón. However, after learning about Argentina and Juan Perón, and reading Tomás Eloy Martínez's book Santa Evita , I am surprised I had never heard more about her. I think it's really odd how someone as influential as Eva isn't really talked about in American schools. The way that millions of people showed up after her death to show their support, give flowers, and mourn out of respect isn't really seen in the United States or many other places around the world. I was taken aback by the sheer numbers in some of the pictures of the Argentine crowds after Eva Perón's death. In my opinion, the reason why Eva was so revered in Argentina is because she always kept others in mind. Whether Eva was participating in radio acting, running her own foundation, creating a school of nursing, or serving as an active first lady, she was always ready to get involved and make a difference. This idea can be reflected in the book, San...

 How are you, Linnea? I like the points that you made regarding the colors of Rivera's mural and how it relates to tone. It's intriguing how you interpreted the bright colors over violent scenes as "painting over" the bad parts of Mexican history. I wonder if that's Rivera actually intended, and it leads me to believe that there could be an infinite number of hidden messages in the mural and art in general. Even if Rivera didn't mean to use bright colors over violent scenes in his mural, I wonder if his subconscious thoughts influenced his art. Either way, intentional or not, I think that "painting over" Mexican history is a great way to describe the scene!

A really interesting coincidence happened this week between this class and my Spanish class. In The Making of Latin America, we obviously talked a lot about Diego Rivera's mural A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park. Interestingly enough, this same week in my Spanish class we are starting an interactive class game that is entirely based on Latin American art. The overall purpose of the game is to basically build an art collection that showcases Latin American art at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Everyone in the class has a different role either as an artist, curator, or representative that involves different art movements of Latin America. The crazy part is that one of the movements that are a part of the game is Mexican Muralism! We briefly talked about Mexican muralism as a theme in class, so it's really cool that I am going to be making such a clear connection between the two classes. Learning about Rivera's mural in our groups and as a class was actually a lot of ...

  Hello, Angie! I also found the rooster scene to be interesting. My DQ for Serrata's part of the class required me to mention scenes from part three that had made me uncomfortable, and the rooster fight was one of the ones I picked. Your interpretation is different than mine; I compared the violence of the rooster fight and end scene, while you pointed out the desire to fight against all odds. Your idea helped me understand that the two scenes are comparable not just in violent action but also through intention and feelings. Great post!

 What I enjoyed talking most about this week was the learning community activity regarding Viva Zapata  and The Underdogs . I think we've all learned about historical events through fiction at some point or another in our lives; however, I don't remember any instances where there were media so different from each other. Although they were both about the Mexican Revolution, Viva Zapata  and The Underdogs  had different authors, objectives, and publishing dates. It was eye-opening to see an event like the Mexican Revolution portrayed in different manners. On one side, Viva Zapata  was written by an American author with retrospective insight to the past in 1952. On the other, The Underdogs  was written by a Mexican author with direct involvement in the revolution in 1915. The learning activity and the sources have helped me to learn about the impact of perspective. Azuela could have been influenced by personal bias in his book, but his account would have been ...

 Good evening, Lillie! I love how in-depth you covered the correlation between the typewriter and the power of words in the movie. Even though Zapata can't read, as you said, he's still a tremendous leader. The reason I think Zapata was successful is because he used his strengths to overcome his weaknesses (reading, writing, etc.). In any context, it's essential that leaders, historical and present, understand their strengths and weaknesses and find ways to overcome obstacles. It was great reading about how invested you were in this topic, Lillie!

 Hello, Amanda!  Your point that context, especially relating to historical movies, caught my attention. It's important to understand the reasoning for historical dramas being produced. This not only helps the viewer understand the movie itself better, but a viewer can also determine what possible biases might exist. Historical inaccuracies might occur because of bias, so context is always important to take a glance at.

The poem A Roosevelt  has altered my way of thinking about American intervention in Latin America. Before this class, I had the perception that Latin America was helpless to react to the United States' involvement in the area. To add on, I also thought that the United States was completely dominant over Latin America to the point that Latin America didn't even know what was happening, but this wasn't the case. Contrary to what I used to think, Latin America was very much aware of what the United States was doing. This can be seen throughout Rúben Darío's poem A Roosevelt , where the author states, "Beware. Spanish America lives! There are a thousand cubs set loose from the Spanish Lion. For God's sake, one would need to be, Roosevelt, a terrifying Sharpshooter and a mighty Hunter to hold us in your ferrous claws." Latin America is aware of the power and prestige the United States holds; however, they are not willing to give in to American demands. Latin Am...

     The book The Gaucho Juan Moreira  was very amusing to read. Growing up, I loved reading fiction books more than anything else. Reading the book this week brought back a lot of the joy that I used to have for reading when I was a kid. Despite the story being nonfiction, the whole story felt like it was completely made up. If it was fiction, I probably would have labeled it as "unrealistic," which just goes to show how entertaining Juan Moreira was.       My favorite quote from the story comes from the part where Moreira begins his life as an outlaw by stabbing Sardetti over his debts: "'One,' said Moreira, and then, like lightening, he stabbed the storeowner nine more times counting aloud, once for each thousand pesos of the bad debt." I was left open-mouthed at that part. If you saw that scene on T.V., you would probably laugh at how ridiculous it was, so the fact that something similar happened, in reality, is farcical.     ...

 Hello, Lexie! I agree that ethno-tourism is essentially a balancing act between its benefits and drawbacks. On one hand, it's great that foreign travelers can directly learn about indigenous cultures. On the flip side, if ethno-tourism grows too much, the industry itself won't be as culturally accurate as it was previously. Tourism is a great way for native cultures to make money, but that desire for money could alter indigenous practices to accommodate tourists.

 I was surprised to learn what the author was actually trying to say in the poem as well. While reading the poem, I noticed some things about agriculture and whatnot, but I didn't connect the idea that agriculture and nature were distinct from each other. I think we can both improve comprehension if we look at poems as a whole rather than making assumptions based on the beginning parts.

 Who would've guessed at the beginning of the semester that I would be writing a blog post about bird poop, yet here I am. The guano industry off the coast of Peru is surprising, to say the least. Within the modern-day United States, we use cow manure as a fertilizer for a variety of tasks. However, the United States actually had interests in the guano industry in the 1800s. In fact, the United States passed the Guano Islands Act of 1856 in order to claim unclaimed/uninhabited islands with guano deposits off of Peru and internationally. It's shocking to realize that American expansion and global intervention started partly due to bird crap. As a result of discovering the potential of the guano industry, the United States used naval force to search the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans for additional guano deposits. Additional German and British ships were investing in guano. This goes to show the importance of the good itself. Incredibly, the Peruvian guano was of a higher quality ac...