Ben Kaczmar GVSU

 Hey Illy! I really enjoyed how you focused on the idea of omission in your post. In the class, we are learning about so much more than just Latin America. We're learning about history and how it is sort of "created" by a global culture of different viewpoints. Some viewpoints will omit details that they don't find important to history or even shameful to themselves. As a result, history will never be the full truth of what we are learning. It's human nature to protect one's self-image, and history is no exception to that. 

 I think that it's really neat that you had a sibling in the sequence before. A lot of the viewpoints that you heard about in the past probably make more sense now. Media really does play an impactful role in how we understand history, including in previous centuries. Most of this is a result of people hiding something or protecting their self-image. Something that is hard to think about is the thought that this trend of media adaptation will continue in the future for pretty much as long as humans exist. People will naturally want to protect themselves and hide things that reflect poorly on themselves.

I need to come up with some sort of name to address the people who are reading my posts. It's boring just saying hey everyone. Anyways, something that caught my attention during the week was the story of Ferdinand van Olmen. In 1487, only a few years prior to Columbus, van Olmen was given permission to sail west with the hopes of discovering new resources and land for Portugal. He attempted to go west across the Atlantic Ocean with high hopes, but he ran into difficult winds and storms that made the voyage impossible. Strangely enough, the weather had a tremendous impact on our world history. Since van Olmen set sail in winter, the winds were pushing against his ships. Columbus, to his fortune, set sail when the winds were in his favor and helping him towards what would become the New World. Imagine if van Olmen had succeeded and ended up discovering the New World for Portugal. The entire structure of Latin America would be based on Portuguese culture and language. The people today...

 Hello Lexie! I thought it was neat that we got to analyze the Codex Mendoza as well. I feel like when it comes to Aztec culture we are only presented generic images to learn about. However, the Codex Mendoza was very likely the first important Aztec image that I looked to understand. There's so many little details in the image of Tenochtitlán with significance. It's crazy to think that only one image could reveal many pieces of history.

 Hey Amanda! History itself is such a weird process because it isn't always based on facts as you said. A lot of what we see in history is information that has been filtered and reinterpreted over and over again. Those that are in power are usually the ones that tell the full story, which means we are missing out on many important details from different angles. 

 For my post this week, I'm going to be focusing on the learning communities that we just started. I enjoy doing the communities because they allow me to connect with others over important topics regarding Latin American culture. There is a lot to explore just in general, so being able to hear ideas from my group and other classmates was really helpful in solidifying my own ideas. My opinion was that the Codex Mendoza was more than just a simple document. I was able to connect with others who had the same opinion as me, and I found it easier to back my claim after talking with others. Additionally, hearing what other groups had to say in response or to their own claims was interesting. I was able to realize what flaws I had in my own arguments after listening. One thing that I have quickly realized is that these groups are going to help me a lot in writing my papers. The more connections that I form and more people I listen to, I'll be able to strengthen my ideas on any topic. ...

 Hello Lillie! It's really weird to think about how all the history that we have learned about in American textbooks might be wrong. Because of bias and other influences, we haven't been told the full story of different cultures. I feel that we would receive a much better story of sorts if we let other cultures speak for themselves. We would be able to learn more about the feelings of other cultures, which is ultimately more important than objects or artifacts.