Ben Kaczmar GVSU

  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.