Reflection: Discussing the Meaning of “Empire and its Ruins”

The course theme for this year’s cycle of humanities core was “Empire and its ruins” and although my expectations of what would be defined as empire and ruins were not far off I also learned that there were other meaningful definitions it could embody. Ultimately at the beginning of the year I came in thinking …

“Women Without Men”: Discourse on Female Repression under the Patriarchy

Women Without Men, directed by Shirin Neshat, a film adapted from a novel in 2009 follows the lives of four women living in Tehran, Iran suffering from some form of repression. They experience the burdens of the patriarchal society imposing on their autonomy, dreams, and identity to the point where they all grow tired of …

The Exploitation and Objectification of the African Body

The body is something that empowers and allows people to do many things but it also allows others to greatly dis-empower people. It can be used, misused, and abused for the gains of others and unfortunately this was happening since the Atlantic Slave Trade when people from Africa were enslaved and sent over to the …

Proliferating Thoughts About Writing on Empire and Its Ruins

It is incredible to come and think about how relatable discussing empire and its ruins is in the present day. No matter what form these discussions take, whether they be in essays or in blogs there are many ways in which I connect talking about the Inca Empire, Shakespeare, and India in the 19th and …

The Barriers We Build Ourselves: It all Begins With Self-Improvement

There are times in this world when we look around and examine where we are economically, politically, emotionally, and physically. Inspecting certain aspects of our lives and re-evaluating ourselves as individuals is one of the hardest things to do because it is difficult to be honest with ourselves and because it takes a lot of …

At The End of The Day Words Are Not Just Words

At the end of the day, when we go to bed and we think about what has been said to us and about us we realize that words have weight and significance because they have the power of destruction. Words have meaning and have the power to hurt us profusely. Even the most empty of …

Mental Borders: Non-Europeans Are Smarter Than you Think

Paying close attention to the material of the fall quarter which focused on Manifest Destiny and the study of "otherness" in this world, we can sense some of that same feeling of superiority from the Spanish conquistadors who invaded the Andes and tried labeling them as non-humans incompetent of ruling themselves. Such a thing like …

Reflection: Abstract ways of thinking about Empire and its Ruins

It's fascinating to see that the idea of empire is so prevalent within present day society in the smallest ways that I had never even considered. I always thought of empires in a different sense, only thinking of the Roman empire and Latin American empires like the Inca, Aztec, and Mayan empire; pretty much historic …

Rigid Mental Boundaries: What has become of the Holiday Season?

The last months of the year are usually all about being festive and celebrating with family, it’s quite exciting, I know. But what are we even celebrating at this point? What has become of America that we longer know what it means to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas? How far have we gone that we now …

“We didn’t Cross the Border, the Border Crossed us!”

Latinos, an ethnic group who makes up a large proportion of the minorities living here in the U.S. are a very important part of America. Mexicans, who are a subgroup of Latinos have actually been present since the early creation of this country. For the most part Mexican Americans, and even straight out Mexicans can be …