I love soccer, camping, road trips along the California coast, traveling, learning from othere cultures first hand and applying that knowledge to my everyday life, hanging out with friends, bonfires at the beach, music, art, reading, adventures(kayaks in big bear), walks along the beach, shopping, movies, crime shows, designing clothes, baking, and falling asleep on the sand.
One World Week (OWW) is a two week immersion class in which students can opt. to do any of the given courses they are interested in. This year I chose to go to Panama.
Process:
After much fundraising to get to go, I got to the airport however they would not let me on the plane because of a law we had not been notified about. My passport expired 2 months from the departure date and Panama's government requires at least three months on your passport before it expires from the date you depart. Because of this I was unable to go on the trip to Panama.
Reflection:
From this experience I learned that sometimes thing's just don't go as planned and you have to accept that instead of grieving over it. I also learned how to renew your passport in a short amount of time.
There were many challenges I encountered while at the government building in Los Angeles after leaving LAX. I was not able to get a rush passport because I did not have the custody form stating that my dad had sole custody of me. I had a notarized form where this form had been checked off and signed off on, however the government officials would not accept this as proof of my father's sole custody of me. Being that my father was out of town I was unable to get him to bring this document down to the building and therefore not able to go to Panama.
If I could have changed this experience I would have double checked Panama's passport requirements long before the departure date so that I could have avoided this problem. However, having this experience has helped me to develop into the person that I am now. Without this horrible thing happening to me I would not be able to deal with bad things as well as I am able to deal with them now.
Throughout my life I have been blessed to have my home filled with different kinds of warm love. Instead of the smells of mom’s baking wafting through the house or the voice of my dad ringing through the halls as he came home from work, my house was filled with music and the passion it inspires. Whether it was Jeff Buckley, Elliot Smith, or even the voice of my dad, guitar in hand, warming the house and the hearts within it, there was always music to be heard, lyrics to be understood, and beliefs to be appreciated.
My dad has taught me about the deeper meaning of music to musicians and people, as well as how to recognize the value of each and every word that escapes their throat, listen to every note played, and experience the song itself. Every album is a storybook meant to be listened to all the way through, every song just another chapter in the novel. As a musician my dad creates works of art, songs that describe his childhood, his feelings toward life, and his beliefs. Every word he writes, every piece of musical notation he creates, and every song he records expresses himself in a pure and unique way that sustains who he his. He’s an entertainer, a philosopher, and a teacher, all through the music he creates.
While I may not posses the same musical creativity my father does, he’s taught me to appreciate it on a different scale. Through his teachings music has become a sort of panacea for me. It’s my therapy, my entertainment, my laughter, my expression, my teacher, and an overall crux in my life. I can take my appreciation for music and understanding of it and apply it to different aspects of my life, using the principles I take from it and using them as my own commandments. Of all the things I have learned from my appreciation for music, the most important is understanding and respect. I may not like all types of music, I can at least appreciate the creator of the piece for the feelings behind it and respect the work and effort that went into its creation. This is an idea I feel I can be applied to many different things in life.
When I traveled to Bali, instead of being judgmental of the people’s beliefs and treating them as erroneous and tenebrous, I was open-minded and appreciative of what they had to teach me. Because of this I was able to absorb their beliefs and culture like a sponge and use what I had learned to make myself a more cultured person who’s able to take the teachings of the people around me and apply it to my daily life. Music was my original mentor, and because of what it taught me the world and people within it have all become teachers and philosophers that I can continuously learn from.
Project Description: During this project we read the book My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. After reading it and having many discussions about the meaning and message of the parables Ishmael tells Julie we were given a sheet of REM's or Reading Enjoyment Maximizers. You could do many different things such as turn the book into a screen play for a movie, create a soundtrack for it, make a painting about a concept in the book, etc. It was truly up to you to choose something to create. I chose to make a zine based on the concept of Takers and Leavers.
Process:
Before creating the rough draft of my zine I had to think of a concept for it. I chose to do a Taker vs. Leaver comparison using the contrast between Dystopian and Utopian society in nature. I also made it so that as you were looking at the pictures and reading the lines in the zine you would have to flip it to see the Leaver lifestyle the right way. Every page in the Leaver section was the exact opposite of the taker section, just as a Dystopian society (Takers) is the exact opposite of a Utopian society (Leavers). I then created a rough draft that had written what I wanted on each page on it. After creating the rough draft I made my final draft.
Reflection:
In this project I learned a lot about our culture and why we are the way we are. Because of reading My Ishmael I feel like my eyes have opened up to the world a bit more. It's almost as if there was this invisible wall blocking my view of the way the world really should be and reading this book helped me to break it down. I have this whole new perspective of our culture and life itself that I believe has really changed my opinions on society for the better. It's almost as if my whole life I somewhat had an idea of what people like Daniel Quinn and Jared Diamond, author of The Worst Mistake in the Human Race, already knew but I couldn't quite grasp the concept. My Ishmael gave me the tools I needed to get it within my reach.
In the creation of my piece I had some trouble getting the sketches exactly right. After hours of working on them I finally got the shading and lines the way I intended them to be.
If I could do this project over again I would have liked to have done the challenge assignment, reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, before or after reading My Ishmael instead of reading them at the same time. Because they are both so similar it was very hard for me to distinguish between the two on the final and while writing papers about them.
Creating my zine really got my creative juices flowing and inspired me a bit more in the artistic department. I hope to be able to use this next year in projects.
Project Description: During this project we broke away from the transactive writing we had been doing and learned about how to write a personal essay based on a belief we have based on the essays that are submitted to NPR's This I Believe program. I chose to write about the power of music. After we finished the essays, 400-500 words, we displayed them with a profile picture of us in a beautiful frame for everyone to see.
Process: Writing a good personal essay required us to do many drafts. I personally had five different drafts of my essay before I got my final one. After we finnished writing the essays we took profile shots of our face, cut them out, traced them onto a piece of colored paper, and cut the nice color pieces out. We then took the frames we had bought for the project and used them to creatively display both our profiles' and essays for our school exhibition.
Reflection: During the project I learned a lot about myself. In order to be able to write the essay I really had to think about what I believe in. This was somewhat hard for me becuase I believe in a lot of things and I had a hard time choosing something to write about. Becuase my dad is a musician music has always been a big part of my life. I have learned many things from my love for music, so I figured that my belief in the power of it would be something interesting and unique to write about. While I had my belief ready to go, when I started writting I realized that because I have been doing transactive writing so much this semester my personal writing techniques were lacking. It took my until the fourth draft to be able to fully get back into the swing of things but once I had I was able to produce a piece of writting that I am extremely proud of. If I could do this project over again I wouldn't have done anything differently. I am extremely proud of my piece and overall display of it with my profile shot. I am completely in love with my work and wouldn't change it for the world. Now that I have practiced transactive and personal essays I feel that I am more prepared for 10th grade when I will most likely have to write in both styles. I better understand the difference between the two and feel comfortable writing in both.
Evelyn Glennie's performance at the TED conference was very stimulating both to the eyes and the ears. She had a very unique style of playing in both her body movement and the actual sounds she created with the instruments she played. It was very calming in my opinion to hear her play music. Even when she was talking she was captivating. What she was saying was so inspiring. People are so narrow minded to think that we can only hear through our ears. There are so many other aspects, as she said, to listening and hearing music and the sounds around us.
It was inspiring to hear her play because if a deaf person can play better than a person who can hear through the tiniest vibrations, then why can't someone like me learn to play just as well? People are often held back by their belief that a handicap cannot be overcome. Why can't someone in a wheel chair dance, or someone who's deaf play an instrument? You're only as handicapped as you let yourself be. I'm so fortunate not to have a disability to overcome, and yet I don't try nearly as hard as I should to achieve my goals.
This woman, Evelyn Glennie, was able to mimic the exact sounds and vibrations in order to create a specific experience for the audience. She knew what she wanted to play, and how to get it across to them using tempo, beats, and compositions, however as she said "each person experiences music in their own way." By this she means that no matter who you are you're going to feel music in you a certain way and "hear" it differently than others. She feels the vibrations of the notes in her hands, her fingers, her legs, her stomach, and her arms. I hear it and feel it emotionally. Some may just hear the music, having it go in one ear and out the other. It's all different and unique to every person.
A neighbor brought me here when I first moved to the hills (golden hills)
Do you garden at home?
I live right down the street so I just come here
What would be your advice to give to others?
If you like gardening and don't have space this is a great way to do it.
What struck you about the location you visited? Was it what you expected, or very different?
The Community Garden I visited was very different than I expected. I expected something small in the middle of an urban area because Golden Hills is very urbanized. Instead what I found was a small hidden garden next to Golden Hills park. It was very cute, secluded and calming. I would love to come back and start my own little garden there if not at home.
Which items were cheaper than you expected? Which were more expensive?
NA
Do you think you will start going to a farmers market more often? Or using a community garden? Or supporting a CSA?
I would love to become apart of this community garden, not only for sustainable reasons but because of the energy it contained. It seems like a good place to get away and zen out as you garden or even just write next to the flower beds. The soil also seems to be very hearty there and would produce great herbs and such to cook with.
How do these locations fit into our essential questions of “Why Don’t People Live More Sustainably?” and “How Can I Convince them to do So?”
I think people often associate the terms sustainable living with difficult, but in all honesty it's so easy to live a more conscious lifestyle through places like Community Gardens, C.S.A.'s and Farmer's Markets. In my case, there are multiple opportunities within a mile radius of my house to live a more sustainable life style, and after looking up the locations closest to people in my group I found that I was not the only one this applied to. If people just took a few minutes to find a garden, market, or C.S.A. close to them we could all start living a more sustainable lifestyle.
I really enjoyed all the beautiful plants. The colors were so vibrant and beautiful. I could just sit and look at everything all day and be content.
2.) How does each person contribute at the garden?
On garden days the seniors in John's Environmental Science class go to their garden and tend to it. Everyone pitches in weeding, watering, and cleaning out the shed etc. It's really a community effort
3.) Does this inspire you? Why?
I was really inspired by the work the seniors were doing to create my own garden at home. I would love to plant flowers and put them around the house.
4.) What would you grow if you had this garden?
I would love to grow so many different things, mainly flowers and vegetables like tomatoes. However, it would be nice to have an herb garden too.
When we looked at all those charts of which large companies own which organic foods companies I was extremely surprised. It made me so mad to think that when I thought I was buying Naked juice I was actually buying Coca-Cola. It's so frustrating to me because it really shows that it's only a few major corporations that run the food industry. There are almost no independent labels anymore.
I agree with everything that has been talked about in Food Inc. and My Ishmael. I believe that the lifestyle we are living is not exactly right and I also think that the way the food industry is run is horrible. I can't believe how badly they treat the people that work at these places, or how our government treats them. They arrest the people that come here to do an honest day's work, but they don't arrest the people who are responsible for bringing them there. It's so horrible! Immigrants are treated like something illegally imported instead of people.
In order to make a difference I think it's important to buy local and live a more sustainable lifestyle. However, in regards to Ishmael I have no idea what to do. I know he said that we need to educate people about everything, and I agree with that. But I feel like it shouldn't be as simple as that. With the food industry there are not simple answers to getting rid of everything. But with the problem of saving the world, there is an even simpler answer. It makes me mad.
My family thinks that the people of our civilization need to make a more conscious effort when it comes to food to eat more sustainably. In fact my dad has recently become Vegan and buys all local foods whenever it's financially possible. He feels very strongly that there needs to be a big change in the food industry and I think that since he has a large voice in the community here in San Diego, especially in the restaurant business he could make a difference here.
"The schools are there, Julie, to regulate the flow of young competitors into the job market."
-My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
(Page 60)
When Ishmael said this I was particularly peeved. It makes me so angry as I was reading these chapters because what he was saying, while it seems to be true, completely eradicates the purpose of education in my mind. To me education is the further discovery of information but I feel like his saying this means that it's not. And while his opinion isn't necessarily right, I feel like it is. Our civilization really did make education more about giving us something to do than learning. Instead of filling our heads with things that we actually are genuinely interested in, they fill our heads with useless facts. I mean, why would I ever need to know the exact date the Dutch bombed Bali? I didn't until our government created a test where I may need to in order to succeed in life. I wish learning were more about finding yourself and learning about things that interest you. If it were I feel like I would be so much happier and excited to go to school. I could finally learn about the things that I cared about and do something with the knowledge.
My mind completely wandered throughout this chapter thinking about all the things I wish the education system took into account. I feel like our government gives makes schools like a uni-sex one size fits all tank top. They make everything the same for everyone, even though it will only fit a handful of people. Personally if a public school were like a tank top for me it would look more like an enormous pillow case with arm holes.
The horrible part is that while I understand that our civilization is just using school as a sort of population control in order to preserve enough jobs for everyone, I hate the way they do it. Can't they at least make it more interesting for us? Just because we don't do things in a conventional way doesn't mean we aren't learning? Who decides what information is worth learning or not? Because I don't think the people who do decide that are the right people to be deciding. I mean, how much of the information they learned in school do they actually use in their lives today?
“Okay. Yeah, I’m taking the girls to the beach. Uh huh. No, I haven’t done that yet. I’ll figure it out. Bye.” My Mama hung up the phone.
“Who was that Mama?” I did not think she would tell me, but I asks anyways.
“No one.” She drives the car and doesn’t even look at me. Why does she hide stuffs from me? All I want to do is know what’s going on.
“Mama, whys is the sky blue?” I looked out the window of the car. It was a nice day. It felt warm and pretty, and there were a lot of puffy white clouds to make shapes out of in the sky.
“Because that’s how God wanted it,” she told me. She was driving the red car. I liked this car the best out of all of the cars we had because I feel the wind breathing on me and like to look at the sky.
“But why?” Riley said. She was in her green car seat next to me. She had a blue bow in her hair. I had a pink one in my hair. We were twins so I think we have to look alike a lot.
“Because he likes blue.”
“But why?” I said. I didn’t understand why the sky was blue and why the grass was green. What if the sky was green and the grass was blue? Why does all things has to be the way it is?
“I don’t know Cynthia. It just is that way, okay?”
“NO!” I screamed. I didn’t like when she did that. Why couldn’t she just tell me? I know she knows. She just not want to tell me and that makes me mad.
“Madison, calm down!” she turned around to look at me.
“NO! Tell me why the sky is blue!” I yelled at her.
“MAAAMAAA!” Riley screamed. BANG! CLASH! The glass in the window broke and all I see is black.
“Oww,” I whined. I felt my head with my hand. It hurt a lot. It felt like I had one of those big bumpies on my face like in loony tunes, but I didn’t see stars around me eyes like there should have been.
“Oh thank God,” my Mama looked at me. Everything was fuzzy like my stuffed animal.
“Mama, why does everything hurt?” she had grabbed my hand. Her head was on my leg and she was crying. I could hear her cries. Even though I couldn’t see her water on her face, I could hear it coming out. I noticed a big white thing on her arm. It looked like a piece of a blanket scott taped to her arm. “Mama, where’s Riley?” my Mama cried harder. She was shaking. I looked at the room. I saw the room better now. It was white like my Mama’s curtains, but it was a bad white. There is too much light in here I think because it was still a hard to open my eyes all the way.
“Do you remember when I told you about heaven?” Mama’s voice was shaky like her body.
“Yes. You said when people die, they go to heaven. And theys happy up there. Theys get to do what they want and it’s pretty.” I didn’t know why shes was talking to me about heaven when I had just asked her a question. I just wanted to know about Elisa and where she was sleeping in this white room so we could go to the beach. Was she here? Was she at home? “Mama, where is Riley?”
“Riley’s in,” she looked at my face. Her eyes were red and puffy, “Riley’s in heaven honey. She died in the car crash.” Her whole body shook now.
“No!” I screamed. I sat up and tried to push her head off my lap. I looked at my arms and strange straws were coming out of my arm. “What’s going on? Where am I? Answer me!” I yelled. She was frozen like a statue looking at me.
“We’re in the hospital. You were hurt in the crash. So was Riley and,” she stopped speaksing, “She didn’t make it.” Water burst from her eyes like rain.
“No. No. You’re lying. You always is lying to me and I don’t like it.” I tried to pull the weird clear things out of my arm. It hurt and stung and I felt the tears come out of my eyes. I was screaming. I did not know when I screamed, I just hear it. This is a dream. It has to be. She’s lying to me. She’s a liar.
“Madison calm down! Please calm down!” She put her hands on mine. I pulled them out.
“NO!” I didn’t want her here. I wanted to wake up from the dream I was having. I wanted to wake up and go to the beach like we were supposed to.
Big people in white long shirts and short green shirts walked over to me. I threw my arms and moved my legs. I just wanted to get out of the white room. The tubes kept me on the bed. I cried and cried and cried, and the green shirt person walked towards me with a needle. I moved back and sat on the wall. I didn’t want her to poke me with that needle. I cried harder. Instead of poking me with the needle, she poked the tube. “No, no, no!” I screamed. My eyes felt tired, but I didn’t want them to close. I wanted to wake up, not go to sleep.
I woke up, but I was still in the white room. I lift my arms, but something was not letting me. I looked down, and saw brown straps. They looked like belts around me like the hand necklaces Mama wears for parties. “Mama!” I wanted her to come so I could get the hand necklaces off and go home. A lady in a green shirt walked in.
“Hi Madison, I’m Lisa. Are you hungry?” she smiled like I was fine.
“I want to go home!”
“I know honey, you can go home soon. How about I take off your straps off and we go for a walk?” she was still smiling.
“Fine,” she started to take the belts off. I hugged myself when she was done. My head still hurt, but all I wanted was to go home.
“Let’s go for a walk,” she pulled me off the bed. My legs felt like the jello I had eaten that morning, like my arms and head were too heavy for them. The lady grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. When we got into the hall I saw people in polka-dotty dresses walking. There were kids and big people. Some looked like my Grandma with white hair and saggy skin.
“Get away from me draconian demons!” a man ran out of a green room.
“Mr. Singer, please come back into the room,” I heard.
“You can’t cajole me into this! The hoi polloi may believe you and your so called panacea, but I never will!” He waved his arms around like he was dancing.
“What’s going on?” Lisa dropped my hand.
“He thinks we’re trying to kill him because we need to give him his insulin shot.” A man walked out of the room. His shirt was green like Lisa’s.
“Have you tried conceding with him?”
“Yes, but he won’t listen. He goes in and out of knowing where his is and who we are,” he put his hand on the man. The man yelled in protest and his eyes looked like the people on the street Mama called crazy.
“Madison, I’m going to help my friend here treat this patient. Can you sit on this bench right here and wait for me please?” she was still smiling. I nodded. As soon as she was gone I took off running. My legs felt better now, like they could carry me. I didn’t know where to go but I saw a lady in normal clothes and followed her. I could see big glass doors and cars outside. I ran at the door.
“Madison!” Lisa called. I ran faster. My head hurt worser but I kept running. The doors opened for me like they wanted me to get outside. “Someone stop her!” Lisa yelled. I heard feet tap dancing on the floor and trys to run fast.
“No! I’m going home!” I yelled. My head hurt worse and everything looked smudgy. My eyes couldn’t see well so I just kept running.
“No! Stop!” A man yelled but I kept running. Everything my eyes sees was black. My feet went down and a car’s horn honked loud. I saw Elisa and she wasn’t smudgy like the outside had been. She put her hand out and I grabbed it. She smiled and I knew everything would be okay.
Although we have had the ability to watch television on mobile devices for some time now, this new technology will allow us to more efficiently watch TV on devices such as cell phones, netbooks, computers, etc. using antennas for older devices and new technology built into newer model cell phones and other devices.
Importance:
Before this new technology was developed, it was very hard to watch live television on the go. The connections were unreliable, expensive, and didn't have local channels. However now stations will be able to broadcast to small devices such as computers and cell phones for less than a penny a minute. This new service, Mobile Digital TV, allows devices to receive signals directly from signal towers verses over the 3G wireless Internet used in cell phones and some computers. By the second half of the year we should have this new technology in stores, unless any problems arise.
Setbacks:
For now there are not setbacks in the production of this new product. However, I do imagine there might be some connection problems with the antennas at first or some other mechanical problem, just like most new equipment.
A decade ago the world's leading ichthyologists set out to create the world's first ever census of marine life. This was a seemingly impossible task, as over 1,400 new species are discovered every year, but with over 2,000 scientists from over 80 nations working to develop the census of marine life from both past, present, and future, the task is not as large as it once seemed. Once done this census will approximate how many of each species exist and where they live, as well as the ocean's overall biodiversity and the results of their studies will be revealed on October 4th, 2010 at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London.
This census will help scientists to keep track of past and future discoveries in marine life, and, using a computer program they also built, predict the future ecology in marine life.
Importance:
Because of this census scientists can now efficiently predict the outcome of a species in years to come, which species will be extinct due to overfishing etc., as well as monitor the rapidly changing biodiversity in the ocean and ocean acidification in the coral reefs.
What is Going to Happen to the Census in 2010?:
This census will be released to the public on October 4th of 2010, providing it's extensive knowledge and findings with the rest of the world.
Setbacks:
Every year about 1,400 new species of marine life are discovered which could potentially set back the release of this census or how updated it is when it is released this October.
1.) I am going to try to challenge myself more in Humanities by asking for extra challenge work when I have finished the given assignments and made them to my standards.
2.) Try to make every draft of an essay or writing piece within the maximum length so that I can break my habit of going over the page limit. I plan to do this by cutting every single draft, first drafts included, to be the maximum size.
3.) Continue to do all the given extra credit in Humanities to challenge myself more and help to keep my grades up.
4.) Read all instructions on assignments so that I do not accidentally miss an instruction.
After writing the papers about our pillars in our civilizations, we had to create a painting on a portion of a pillar in our 9th grade commons of something having to do with our pillar. Because my pillar was government and society, I decided to paint an enlarged version of the Athenian Owl coin.
Process:
Before painting the Athenian Owl on the pillar, I drew it in pencil on a piece of paper about the same size as the space on the pillar. When I was satisfied with my drawing I showed it to Charlotte and once it was approved, began to sketch it lightly in pencil on the pillar. My initial design was too small so I had to re-sketch it on the pillar. Once both I, and my teachers were satisfied I began to paint the main details and background. Then I added the smaller details to it to make it more my own. I really like to personalize my art, so while it still looks like a traditional coin, I still wanted to add more details to show the depth of the coin. I did this using different shades of the color. I then created a box for the title in pencil using a ruler so the the letters would be about the same size and on a straight line before sketching out the letters and painting them onto the pillar.
Reflection:
I learned a lot about how important drafting is to art. If I had just started painting the owl instead of doing a rough draft on a separate piece of paper, and then sketching it in pencil on the pillar before painting I probably wouldn’t have been satisfied with my painting and would have made a lot of mistakes. The title would have also been more crooked and uneven in size if I hadn’t used a ruler to size it the right way. This drafting and revision, as well as small steps I took helped me to learn to create better art.
I had a bit of trouble when I added my name to the painting. I accidentally smudged it and had to go back over with gold paint and then re-do it. This left me a little stressed for time in the end.
Next time I paint I would do everything the same because I think my painting came out really good. If I apply the same careful thinking and precision to the rest of my work too I am sure all my projects will turn out better.
In this project we had to write a 3-5 page essay about our pillar in our civilization. My civilization was Athens, and my pillar was Government and Society.
Process:
We had many drafts and revisions to go through in this project. I myself had several drafts, including the rough draft and final draft. Each and every time I wrote a new draft I put all my effort into it because I believe that you can only have good revisions if you have a good draft. However, we began with researching. I alone had over 20 pages of research which I read and highlighted using a color coding technique. This allowed my to find exact information easier than having to search through all 20 pages of information. After I had read and highlighted the information I began to write my rough draft.
My rough draft was about 10 pages long, which exceeded the maximum amount of pages. Because of this I had to work really hard to cut the paper down for the first draft. However, when we added in the foot notes to my third draft, it added more than a page to my essay. So, for the next draft I focused only on editing the actual writing, then edited it with Charlotte, re-wrote it again, and cut the fifth draft down to the maximum amount of five pages. By my seventh and final draft I had really solid writing and fit all the requirements for the paper.
Reflection:
I learned a lot about the role government played in the society of Ancient Athens through researching this paper. While I wasn’t surprised at the way the women of Athens were treated, I was still upset by the inequality and unfair treatment of females in their society. It was really sad to me how the only way to have a voice in the city was to become a prostitute. While these woman were the least respected, at least they had more freedom where as married woman were confined to a house all day doing nothing but chores.
When it came to writing the paper, I was really struggling with keeping my draft within the page requirements. However, after learning how to efficiently combine sentences and cut out un-needed information, I was able to turn my seven page draft into a 5 page final essay.
For the next essay I would really like to try to keep all my drafts within the maximum page requirements so that I can spend more time editing my writing than cutting the writing down. This will help me to break the habit of going over the page requirements.
Artifact:
Luna E. Rey
December 8th, 2009
Government and Society in Ancient Athens
“A living civilization creates; a dying builds museums.” -Martin H. Fisher
Over the course of history ancient civilizations have been the foundation for which every modern society has been built. These ancient societies had their own art, architecture, religions, and social classes. However, what really made a civilization was their efficient implementation of government. Without a working government that provides for all their people, civilizations lasted but a small period of time unless they learned to adopt the ideas of another civilization. Ancient Athens was, in particular, very key to the development of our civilizations today and though it had many flaws and failures, Athens' successes were immensely significant to the development of modern government and society.
Home to monuments such as the Acropolis and Parthenon, Athens was and still is a city bursting with great architecture, technology, and art. During the time often known as the "Golden Age" of Greece, Athens saw a huge development in philosophy and the arts due to such inspirations as Sophocles, Socrates, Plato, and Herodotus. The birthplace of democracy, Athens is greatly thought to be the most influential on western civilization due to its many developments within intellectual and artistic areas[1].
Democracy in Athens was a huge success. They had a two-part legislature, similar to our three-part legislature in the United States, composed of the Assembly, orEcclesia, and theBoule,Or Council. The Council was made up of 500 men, fifty of which were chosen from each tribe by random drawing every year, whose job was to draft new laws and policies for the city/state. The Assembly, made up of nine administrators and ten military officials, would get together and discuss propositions before voting to reject or accept the legislation the Council had formulated. Every male citizen had the right to speak and vote at these gathering, similar to how we vote in America today, and at least 6,000 men had to show up in order for the Assembly to take place[2]. This was one of the many duties assigned to male citizens that allowed them to participate in the politics of their city. The assembly was a great tool that created a freedom of speech type of environment which encouraged the citizens to contribute to the process of law.
Male citizens were also summoned to serve as jurors for the city/states’ court, made up of 200 – 400 men. Such a large number ensured that the accused could not bribe the jury to dismiss their case. If the person was found guilty, they either paid fines and suffered temporary loss of their citizenship for smaller crimes, or were exiled or sentenced to death for serious offenses[3]. These punishments effectively kept the people of the city in check and rid Athens of a high crime rate. Even their government’s leaders had punishments for not doing their job correctly.
One specialized form of exile wasostrakons.If a leader received more than 6000 votes in compliance with his being power-hungry and or dishonest and unpopular than he was exiled for ten years. This efficaciously kept the exiled leader from knowing of thehoi polloi'sopinions and goings on within the municipality because the people of Athens relied heavily on communication for news to get around[4]. Overall Athenian leaders were very successful in keeping their people happy and letting them have a say in the politics of their city, but women and non-citizens needs were neglected.
While Athens' democratic government was highly effective for an ancient civilization and greatly impacted the world around it, their society was filled with many flaws. In Athens male citizens ruled the city. The highest in the male social class was Aristocrats, followed by small farmers and Thetes (urban craftsmen, artists, and trireme rowers). As citizens they could participate in the poli's or politics of the city-state while women could not.A man’s job in Athens included heading the household, providing food and shelter for his wife and children, and participating in the politics of the city[5]. However it was greatly thought in Athens that only Aristocrats should have a say in the politics of the city[6]. This popular opinion produced a strong distinction between poor men and Aristocrats, who heavily believed that poor men should have the same rights as Metics (immigrants and were only allowed to own land in the city and could never gain citizenship). While Athens failed in the way Metics rights were limited, and the idea of poorer men being denied the right to have a say in the politics was embraced, they could have improved their government and society even more significantly by giving women and slaves a voice in their community.
Women in Athens were viewed as highly sexual beings with uncontrollable sexual urges that had to be contained for their own benefit. For this reason, they were controlled by the men in their life from birth to death. Married women in ancient Athens social standing was the same as her husband's. While they were the most respected in society, they were also the least free. They were almost never allowed to leave the house, except for a few convivial religious festivals, weddings, and funerals[7]. They were confined to the house most days and given little more rights than a slave and were looked to only to bear suitable children; however; married women were extremely more respected by men and other married women than un-married women.
Women who were not married were separated into two classes. The Hetaerae class was more educated than either wives or concubines. They were sexual and intellectual companions to men and were paid an expensive price for their company[8]. They were allowed into parties with men and were able to freely speak their mind about the goings on within the city. While the wives did work at home, looking after children and attending to the house, these women were allowed outside and had more freedom as they were not controlled by their husbands and/or fathers, giving them more rights than slaves. Then there were the Concubines, poor women who tended to be widows, girls that were left to die as babies and slaves who were prostitutes[9]. While most un-married women were not treated very well, they were often treated with slightly more respect and acceptance than the slaves in Athens.
Even though the city eventually rid itself of slavery, it was still a huge fault within the civilization because it allowed the unacceptable and un-fair treatment of human beings. Male and female slaves within the city were treated very brutally. Female slaves mainly worked in brothels and houses, which was much more humane than male slaves’ jobs[10]. Male slaves attended to the duties their masters had given them, as did females. However, unruly and disobedient male slaves were often sent to work in the Athenian silver mine, an assignment looked upon as a death sentence, where they were shackled in chains, brutally treated by their masters, and had no hope of gaining freedom[11]. This punishment was extremely inhumane and was a major fault in ancient Athenian society. The mistreatment of woman, use of slaves, and unfair deployment of non-citizens were major faults that plagued the city. So, while the democratic government was mainly successful, not including the exclusion of woman from politics, their society was a huge detriment in their civilization. However, the mix of both a faulty government and bad social class and standards could have led to the downfall of the Athenian civilization.
Without the development of democracy, Athens would have been filled with even more faults, just like the Mayans whose civilization was killed off by Spanish invaders. While the Mayan empire was much younger than ancient Athens, it was also much less developed. The Mayans were a monarchy ruled by priests, where as Athens was ruled by the citizens. Both civilizations where heavily religious based, but the Mayan government was focused even more solely around religion. They, like Athenians, had sacrifices, but they sacrificed their own people instead of animals and used it as part of their government verses a religious ceremony. This led to a decrease in population which, when the Spanish invaders came, was not very helpful to the survival of their civilization[12]. The Mayans had a great military, but failed to survive because of their faulty and un-fair government which, as a monarchy, didn’t provide an opportunity for their citizens have a say in their government, just like the city/state of Sparta.
While the Spartan’s military was extremely successful, its government, which Aristotle called a mixture of a Monarchy, Oligarchy, and Democracy, was seemingly unsuccessful because their race eventually died out, and their war practices often led to the deaths of their own people. So even though the Spartans and Mayans ranked high in many areas where the Athenians did not, such as their military and fairer treatment of women, they also lacked in areas where Athens excelled, such as government.
Athens was greatly significant to the development of modern day democracy, but failed to have the voices of all the citizen’s heard. Because of this it was very hard for the government to do what was best for all of their people. Because over half the people living in Athens could not voice their opinions, such as slaves, Metics, and women, their needs were often forgotten amongst the voices of the male citizens. So, in society Athens lacked in creating equality. However, overall their government was immensely successful in getting most opinions heard which is more than can be said for most civilizations of their time and after. Though their society lacked in fairness and equality, without Athens and their immense developments in government, modern day administration would cease to exist as it does today.
