DONE!!!

Oh joy to heaven! I am done with this semester! The surreal feeling still hasn't faded and the thought of sleeping in past 7:00 a.m is incomprehensible. So I succesfully finished 31 credit hours this year. I could kick my own ass for taking on 17 credits this semester, because I almost killed myself doing it. However I managed to pull it off. I am now looking forward to enjoying my three months of much needed vacation. I am going to have a chance to swim, chill with my buddy Alyssa and my new "friend" Eduardo, seeing as Alejandro and I are d-o-n-e. I am going to continue blogging and I telling about the adventures I am going to have being a nanny, and going to Argentina in June. Hope everyone has a awesome summer. Liz and Amy, it has been great. See you next semester!

My Dinner Party

The Guest List For my FABULOUS Dinner Party:

Leonardo DeVinci
Galileo
Voltaire
Al Pachino (Young Al from the 1970's)
Carlos Valentine
Alyssa Tousigant

Ok, so those would be the guest that would be invited to my dinner party. I chose Galileo and Voltaire, because for one I think Galileo is an absolute genius. At least he was for his time period, and I would like to discuss what it is was like to make such wonderful discoveries and then be persecuted because of them. I would invite Volatire because, I like his philosophy and from what I read he sounds like a crazy guy. I bet he was funny too, because I read that he used to write a lot of satircial stuff about the French Government that landed him some hot water, and I think he and I would have a golly good time getting together and writing some satire about the American Government. Good ol' Al Pachino is on the guest list list, and as I mentioned this is not Al from the Merchant of Venice, oooooh noooooo! if this is my fantasy than this is going to be Al in his twenties from the God Father, (Oh Yeah). Besides, I want to look at his pretty face during dinner(LOL!) Next I woul have to invite my best friend Alyssa, because I think she would want to come and talk philosophy with me and Voltaire. I would invited Leonardo DeVinci, because I want him to come and draw portraits of all of us, and I want to talk to him about the artwork he did throughout his lifetime, and last but not least my buddy Carlos. Nobody makes me laugh like Carlos, I need another PR to come and bring some life to my party. My menu for this spectacular evening would consist of Puerto Rican food: Fried Plantans, Chicken and Rice, Salad, and some Dulce de Leche Cake. Yeah I love Carribean food, so would my guest.

Blog Assignment

What has been the most interesting thing you have learnd in this learning community and why?

The most interesting thing that I have learnd about has been music during the Baroque time era. I have always loved classical music, but knew nothing about the people who wrote it, why they wrote it, and what time period they wrote it. I was glad that I took the time to learn more about Bach. The guy was an absolute genius! I loved having the opprotunity to go to the symphony and be able to listen to some of his best works. It as because of the symphony that I decided to start playing the cello. The thing that I find most facintating about Bach is the amount of pieces of music that he wrote during his lifetime. All of the complicated suite's and concertos. I think that it is interesting that Baroque music was more for the upper class. How is was the "in thing" to have Baroque music played at lavish parties. Even when you listen to Baroque music now a days, I think a lot of people get the imagry of fancy parties. What also facsinates me is the fact that this music has survived and is still so greatly appreciated during modern times. I wonder if Bach ever wondered if students during year 2005 would be listening to his music, and analyzing it for a humanities class.

Voltaire

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit actrocities."
-Voltaire

Voltaire, who's real name was really Francois Marie Arouet, (and also has the same birthday as me, November 21st) was a famous French philosopher and writer. He was very witty and earned his education at "Louis-le-Grand," a jesuit college in Paris. He became quite popular among the aristocrats. However, his wittyness got him into some trouble after he wrote a satire about the French government. He went to a jail for eleven months in Bastille and during that time he wrote "Oedipe" which was a success in the theatre and was also when he adopted the pin name Voltaire. However, Voltaire just couldn't seem to stop pissing people off and in 1726 he ruffled the feathers of a powerful young nobleman, "Chevliar de Rohan." He decided on exhile and moved to England. During his stay in jolly ol' England, he became quite intrigued with the philosophy of John Locke, and the ideas of Sir Isaac Newton. He was very interested in philosophy rationalism and natural sciences. He went back home to Paris and wrote a book gloryfying English customs and their institutuions. It was taken as a insult to the French government and they once more they kicked his booty out of Paris again. Voltaire left to go live with a smart lady friend named Marquise du Chatelet, in eastern France. Together they studied natural sciences, after Marquis died he moved to Berlin, but eventually left and returned to Paris. He purchased a home by the Swiss border and continued to write. He wrote many books, plays, and other publications. The church was particularly againts Voltaire's writings. As we all know, during the Rennasiance period the church was the center of everything. It had all of the control and people were suppose to believe everything that came out of the mouths of priests. Voltaire however was too intellectual and wrote many books about religious intolerance and persecution. This is how Voltaire showed a departure from the Rennaisance, he was not a follower of religion like a majority of people during the time he was living, and was able to see past religion and the corruptness that it had. His book Candide described a society without religious conflict, or court system, modern scientific knowledge, gold, and no court system. Because of these publications Voltaire who died at age 83 was denied buriel in the church grounds. His was buried in Pathenon in Paris, his remains however were dug up by a right-wing religious group and thrown in a garbage dump. His heart is in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and his brain was sold at an auction.

Angela Marie Bracero's Aliases
Your movie star name: Toast Lester
Your fashion designer name is Angela Helsinki
Your socialite name is Baguette Buenos Aires
Your fly girl / guy name is A Bra
Your detective name is Elephant JCOS
Your barfly name is Toast Beer
Your soap opera name is Marie Raleigh
Your rock star name is Gum Mustang
Your Star Wars name is Angros Brabri
Your punk rock band name is The Relaxed Bombilla

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Upper Midwestern

10% Dixie

0% Midwestern

Kudos to Carolyn for this awesome little tests. Wow I guess my Yank parents have had an influence on my speech, 20% Yankee?

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

You Will Die at Age 94

94 Congratulations! You take good care of yourself. You're poised to live a long, healthy life.

This is good to know!!!!

Your Seduction Style: The Coquette

You are a pro at playing the age old game of hard to get. Your flirting style runs hot and cold, giving just enough to keep them chasing you. Independent and self-sufficient, you don't need any one person to make you compelte. And that independence is exactly what makes people pursue you.

Chapter 19

What I found very interesting about chapter 19 was the church reform. Yes, there was a lot of corruption in the church, it is almost scary to think about the kind of power the church had back then. Religion was such a big part of people's lives during the Rennasaince. I think that all of the religious pictures that were created depicting the results of people being sinful, (You have to admit The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel The Elder was pretty disturbing) was a way of scaring people into being ven more religious. If you think about it a lot of people didn't have good education, the only education some might have recieved would have been religious education. I think a lot of these religious pictures of sinful people and punishment was a way to frighten and also gain control of people. The information about Martin Luther was also interesting. I am not exactly crazy about him. The man did do a good job reforming religion and doing away with some of the corruption, but he was also highly anti-semetic, I remember reading once that he would refere to Jews as bitter worms of the earth, or something to that extent. I don't see how he could have been such a wonderful Christian and have such negative feelings againts a group of people?

Another topic I enjoyed reading about was Shakespeare. I think that Shakespeare is in fact a genius. What I really like about Shakespeare's plays and sonnets are the different aspects of love that he portrays. For example there was the jelous and controlling love that was depicted in Othello, true and tragic love in Romeo and Juliet and Coriolanus, there is the crazy and humorous love in The Taming of the Shrew, and painful and hurtful love in Hamlet, and disfunctional love like in Macbeth. Like the book said, he wrote about friendship and love's enslaving power.

Blog Assignment

still like to know about the Renaissance?

I want to know more about what people ate back then. I have herd some interesting things like humble pie, which was apparently pie baked with animal organs. I want to know more about food. I also would like to learn more about the types of clothes certain people wore and what was in style back then.

Othello Blog

. What is the difference between reputation and honor in Othello? Which character exemplifies this difference?

Reputation is truly how you see yourself and how you want others to see yourself. Everyone wants to have a good reputation and it hurts when get back stabbed or have someone talk trash about you and start rumors. On the other hand I think reputations are fake images of yourself. How you are portrayed to other people might differ drastically to the person that you actually are. Honor on the other hand might be something that you either do to boost your reputation, or it could be something that you do because you feel so strongly that it is the right thing and it might even ruin your reputation. For an example of this honor/reputation stuff you can look at Iago. This little shit of a man is caniving and in order to make himself look like a "good friend" he lies to Othello about his wife being unfaithful. Iago's reputation is seen as a honest man being a good friend because he is telling his buddy something that is hard to handle, but he wants the best for Othello and wants him to know the truth. Iago is being honorable to himself by lying as well as he looks honorable to Othello for being brave enough to tell on Desdemona.

. What are the different definitions of love within Othello (give specific examples to help support your answer and this should include more then romantic love)?

Yes, there is the obvious romantic love between Othello and Desdemona. There is also the kind of jealous love that Othello has for Desdemona. The kind where if I can't just have you to myself then no one can. There is the kind of friendly brotherly love that the men and even some of the women have, like the love between Emilia and Desdemona. An example would be when Emilia is dying she wants to be laid next to her dead friend Desdemona, and there is also the love of fame which is what Cassio started to get a little to wrapped up in. Maybe you could call this narcissistic love.


. What type of jealousy is present in Othello and how does it affect the characters?

I think that one of the main flaws that Othello has is that he is not just jealousy but the fact that he is very insecure of himself. When he is told that his precious wife is cheating on him with a friend, instead of trusting his wife he gets so upset and worked up that he not only passes out in convulsions but he ends up murdering her. So yes, jealousy does play a role because he was jealous of the rising fame of Michael Cassio and the fact he thinks Cassio is doing the nasty with his wife, but the fact that he was so insecure that he took the lies that Iago had fed him and took it to the extreme. He was obviously not comfortable enough just going and talking to his wife in the beginning which would have prevented a lot of tragedy. I think that this insecurities stems from the fact that he was a black man in a white society. Even though he had fame and was well liked, I think that deep down he was still insecure about his race. He might have figured that even though his wife loves his, she is still going to be looking for love from a white man. So Othello's jealousy of Michael is not just of his rising fame, but also I think he is jelous of the fact he is white.