How does ethnnocentricity cause conflict?

Ethnocentricity causes conflict because the group of people only focus on their culture and judge other groups of people without understanding and accepting differences in their culture. In the movie, "The First Australians", British honored themselves as civilized settlers, while they described Aborginals as ferocious, barbarous savages because their skin was dark and they didn't wear clothes. Also, one of their reasons for taking over the land was since they were wild and clothless, the colonizers believed that the Aboriginals are animals and animals don't own land. The British puts their own culture in the center which leads the Aboriginals to be the abnormal ones. However the Aboriginals in this documentary were considered less ethnocentric because they didn't attempt to force the colonists to change their culture to the Aboriginal's. Also, In the book, "The Rabbits", the British polluted the land, the water and even stole the Aboriginal's children in order to make their future generation to have whiter skin. The Aboriginals fought back to keep their property, but the British used their advanced warfare skills and gained absolute control over the land. The British used the land for farming of their own crops and polluted the nature for their benefit. These impolite manners to Aboriginal's land was created by their ethnocentrism and not considering Aboriginal's life style in nature. This attitude of the colonists made the Aboriginals to think that the British people are dangerous and strange because they are not open and welcoming with new relationships for a long period of time. In the European culture at that time, colonization was common, however for the aboriginals, they were shocked with the British started taking over their land and transforming everything to their civilized culture. So, the difference in culture, also resulted conflicts. British colonists felt superior to the Aboriginals because they had the pride of civilized culture and started to over control Australia by force. If the British agreed to cooperate with the Aboriginals to understand their differences, the cultural settlement could have been less unfair.

Julius Caesar Duet

I will be preparing the play with Michelle Ahn, I will be playing Calpurnia and Michelle will be playing Caesar. We will perform: Act two, Scene two, Lines 1 to 56.

In this scene, Calpurnia tries to convince Caesar to not go to the Senate today because of her nightmare about Caesar. She believes that it's a foreshadowing of tragedy and begs Caesar to stay at home to prevent any danger.

This scene is significant because Calpurnia's dream is a foreshadowing of what is going to happen to Caesar which is an assassination from the conspirators. The way Caesar reacts to it showed his public self and his private self, at first he pretended as if he was not concerned by it because he says he is not afraid of anything and "Caesar shall go forth!". That is his public self because he presents himself as a mighty bold leader who would never be a coward who doesn't go forth because of a dream. Also, he says "Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come." shows that he is not afraid of death or anything that gets on his way. However, when Calpurnia kneels down to beg him to stay, he suddenly changes his decision and decides to stay at home. This shows his private self because although he says he is bold, mighty and won't change his decision, he got easily swayed just by Calpurnia kneeling down. However, he doesn't want to show it outside, therefore he says "And for thy humour I will stay at home." which is I'll stay at home to please you, not for himself but for her.

CAESAR

Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
'Help, ho! they murder Caesar!' Who's within?

CALPURNIA

What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

CAESAR

Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me
Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

CALPURNIA

Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.

CAESAR

What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

CALPURNIA

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

CAESAR

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.

CAESAR

The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Caesar shall go forth.

CALPURNIA

Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house:
And he shall say you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

CAESAR

Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Learning Profile

I'm a logical thinker with the profile C. In Profile C, I learn best by focusing on the auditory details. While I listen during classes, I learn through analysis, communication and taking notes. Also, I prefer structured learning and sequenced information. So, I learn better when the information comes in lists of bullet points or numbers. I love lists because I don't need to rewrite it so that it is all in order and are comfortable to my eyes. Also, I learn best when an example of the subject is given because I can come up with ideas that are related to example and think farther to make my idea unique, but it is hard for me to use my imagination to think of a complete different idea.

I need to always relax my eyes when I am under stress because my visual is limited under stressed and it's hard to see specific details in visual information. So, since my dominant eye is left eye, when my left eye is limited under stress, I have to close my eyes in order to hear better. I need to work on my gestalt side too, because since I'm a logical thinker, I normally don't think about the big picture and use my imagination. Therefore, I don't like to share my ideas in front of the class because I often can't think of any idea until someone comes up with one and then I can think related to that. So, I need to start participating more in class and reduce relying on other people's idea and create my own idea from my imagination.

The strategies that would help me in my learning is to use the lists of information to study and take notes down while I'm listening in order to remember something that the teachers says. Lists are so useful when I'm studying because then I don't need to organize it again so that it's all in sequence. Also, communication also helps me in learning because I can learn through different perspectives. Also, it helps me to sit in the back row because I can focus better when I can see the whole class and since I know that I am capable of controlling myself from distraction, the best seat for me is rows in the back or front corner.

I would like my teachers to know that I sometimes slap myself in order to focus in class. So, when I'm focused, I almost always remember all the information through visual and listening. I have noticed that I can't really work or read when I'm under stress, but I'm capable of solving math problems. It's hard for me to focus when the room is too noisy but when it's too quiet, I can get distracted or distract someone. Other than this occasions, I'm most likely be focused in class. Also, when it's a full class - work time, I like to move around after I finish a part it and continue on again because it helps me to focus again on the work. :)

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp is painted by a Renaissance artist, Rembrandt, in 1632. It was oil on canvas painting.

This painting shows a reflection of what was happening during the Renaissance, through the the facial expression and the experimental body in the painting. During the Renaissance, artists wanted to make their paintings realistic with more details. In order to do that, the keen observers looked that dissected bodies to observe the muscles and wrinkles. So, the body that is being dissected in the painting represents the realism that the artists started to paint with during the Renaissance. Also, the facial expressions in the painting shows that people during the Renaissance enjoyed gaining new knowledge. This is also related to secularism, people questioned the church, and started experimenting on their own. The dissection which is shown in this painting is one of the experiments. They were used for observing the body for details in painting but also for studying the body parts for cure for diseases. Therefore, this painting shows realism and gaining new knowledge during the Renaissance.

Driving Forces of Renaissance

I believe that trading and banking was the most important driving force of the Renaissance because of the money from trading and banking offered people in city states time to construct or renovate architectures and think about new ideas and knowledge.

Link to Image URL

What, is in a hug

Have you ever hugged somebody?

A hug means more than welcome. I wasn’t used to hugging people other than my family when I was young. It felt as if giving a hug was such a big thing to do. It was easy to wave hands and smile at them, but a hug? That was not my style of saying hi. Things changed when I came to a international school. A place where all people had their own beliefs and personalities, which gave me distance between them at first. What would show them that I really want to know them? What could possibly make them believe I understand them? No strong and powerful words can show such an understanding.

I started to break my boundaries and get to know others. I’m a sensitive person towards feelings, so I was really careful with the people when I started meeting them. It took me a long time, but I had to know answers to my questions and what creates connection between people. When I came to middle school, my life became so much more enjoyable. I’ve made a lot of friends from around the world and now have deep connections with them. Then I thought, hey! Now I know what created this connection and understanding between people. There was one thing that I did a lot more nowadays than before. Hugs, giving hugs.

Every morning, I started my school day off with a big smile and tight hug. Every break, I cheered my friends going for a test, with a gentle hug. At the end of school, I gave all my friends an enormous hug saying: "see you tomorrow!". Whenever someone felt sad, I gave him or her, a hug. They knew I understood them. If they hugged me, I would feel comfortable and loved. Hugs create this strong web between everyone. This web will defend itself from any misunderstandings. Even if it gets tangled or cut, I know and we ALL accept that hugs can quickly connect the web again. This, I truly believe :)

Picture source: http://www.boomspeed.com/1631951/hugs05.jpg

The Game of Battle of Hastings, 1066

The online game of battle of Hastings is mainly about using different strategies. You can play this game in Harold G's point of view or William's point of view. When the battle starts, some options of plans are given, you need to think and choose which strategy fits each occasion. In order to win this game, you need to choose correct strategy every time. What I enjoyed about this game was the different strategies that Normans and the English used. They were very brutal and tricky. However, since we studied what happened in Battle of Hastings in class, I was able to reach the victory. Also, I learned new strategies used in the battle of Hastings and if they were success or not. During The Battle of Hastings the English or the Saxons made a shield wall to protect themselves from Normans. Later on, the Normans were able to break the shield wall and retreat because Normans thought William (their leader) has died, and the Saxons broke the shield wall and chased the Normans to see if the death of William was fake or not. In fact, William was still alive! Eventually the Normans turned around, attacked the English and killed Harold G. William was won the battle of Hastings. I think this type of game is a valuable learning experience because we can learn what happened in battle of Hastings and the strategies that Normans and English used.