Music is something I appreciated doing this week, especially more than looking at art and a little more than reading. I was in band since 5th grade until graduation, and thought about being a music performance major, so music is something I really like and understand. I’ve always thought of music, especially classical music, as having a story and emotional substance to it ever since I started playing flute and piano at around 10. I also enjoyed using the parts we used from listening to the classical music and listening for it in songs with words. Especially The Beatles ‘And I Love Her.’ I love The Beatles. Music means a lot to me and depending on the type of music and the song it can invoke different reactions and feelings. I’ve used Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ to put me to sleep for a long time because it’s relaxing and soothing. Then there are other songs for when I wake up in the morning to wake me up and energize me. There are also songs to help you get through a mood. When I’m angry or sad I will listen to certain songs to get me out of the funk. There is nothing more therapeutic than music to me.
11/8
Candide was a story I read in my Junior year of High School, when we were studying satirical novels. It is a fast-paced story with short chapters that I remember finding easy to read. It could get confusing at times with where they were and what was happening if one doesn’t take their time, however. I remember laughing at this story often. The characters are obnoxious and the plot lines are crazy. But that’s part of what makes the story such a good satire. It’s so incredibly unbelievable with the events and the character’s reactions.
Moments like Candide getting picked to go to war simply because his height matches that of the other soldiers around him. The story satires many philosophies and ways of thinking. Candide says that “there is no effect without a cause”, and Pangloss is forever preaching his way of optimism. I don’t agree with Pangloss whenever he says “. . . those who say everything is well are uttering mere stupidities; they should say everything is for the best.” I don’t believe that everything that happens is for the best. Sure everything happens for a reason but sometimes those reasons aren’t the best. The only thing about Pangloss that I like as a character is when he explains his bout of syphilis to Candide. He explains it in quite a funny manner. It’s the only time such a serious STD could be funny, I imagine. Sure he ends up losing an ear and an eye but it makes for a moment of hilarity in the story.
10/11
For my first essay, I will be writing the compare/contrast essay. I plan on comparing Dante’s Inferno to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Both of these works consist of a religious journey; Dante goes through hell in order to get back on the right path after he has strayed off of it and the pilgrims are on a religious pilgrimage to the city of Centerbury. In both pieces, the author had put themselves into their own work and serve as narrator. Both pieces also show a dislike for the Catholic church. (Dante puts popes and other religious figures in Hell; Chaucer makes most of the church figures corrupt.)
Not only do I plan on focusing on the story similarities, but also the way they were written and the influence they had on the people of the time. Like how they were both written in a language “of the people” (Dante in Italian; Chaucer in English) instead of the accepted Latin of the day.
As much as I would love to do a “creative” form of essay, I’m really just not creative. So, a 4-6 page traditional essay is what it’s going to be. I should be able to fill at least four pages – I hope!
I picked these two to compare because they were both things that I had already read in High School – although I didn’t already write a comparison paper for them. But they are the two pieces of literature that I know the most about that we have read so far, and I’m the kind of person that likes to make things easier on myself by going with what I know. Of course I plan on probably doing a little bit of research to learn some new things, but for the most part I don’t think it should be too difficult.
10/4
This week we got out of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, starting off with Thomas More’s Utopia. More wrote Utopia in 1516, only about twenty-five years after the founding/colonization of North America. I think it’s important to keep this in mind (along with the other important historical events that took place before the time). I feel like the finding of the Americas could have been a big influence on More’s Utopia; it was a new world, one that could be molded and shaped fresh. This may have led More to think about what would be a perfect world – hence, Utopia was born. No war, no fighting, no struggling, no thievery…a perfect society in which was the creation of its own genre. But Utopia had some questionable means of dealing with things, in my opinion; such as their solution to overpopulation where they send the over populous out to take over a new land and absorb the locals there (if there are any) into their society without question and/or choice. Because we all know that would go over oh so smoothly. I also don’t agree with slavery being an aspect of Utopia. If a Utopia is supposed to be a perfect society for all of its inhabitants, wouldn’t that also include the slaves? Surely the slaves cannot enjoy being treated unequally, even if their slavery isn’t as bad as the slavery we envision (being whipped to do fieldwork, for example). And one of the aspects of Utopia is equality…except for, apparently, the slaves. Utopia also distances itself from other countries but yet still claims to have more than the necessary resources it needs to keep all of its citizens not only alive, but happy. Realistically, I feel like this would be impossible because they would eventually have to run out of resources that are not renewable. There isn’t a real government in Utopia either, although there is a sort of community leader. I feel this is unrealistic simply because there would be some form of anarchy. The people in Utopia are, in fact, people; not [[#|robots]], so they must have conflicting thoughts, views, personalities etc.. this makes the idea of conflict being erased also completely unrealistic. So although the idea of utopian societies are, as their name suggests, perfect – it is still merely an idea.
9/27
I’ve always enjoyed The Canterbury Tales ever since I read it my Sophomore year of high [[#|school]]. I would have liked to read more than just the Wife of Bath’s tale/prologue in this class (the Pardoner’s tale is my favorite). The Wife of Bath’s tale is a good one that I enjoy too, though. [[#|]] prologue lists all of the characters who will be telling their stories throughout the pilgrimage. The wife believed that she should have total authority. I enjoyed that this story actually rhymed, whereas the others we had read so far (due to [[#|translation]]) did not. And even though the Canterbury Tales was written in English, I thought it was interesting that it had to be translated because it was written in Old English that would have been very hard to understand. The fact that the Canterbury Tales was never finished is actually kind of sad, but I’m also kind of grateful because that would have been an extremely long story; and it already is! Chaucer and his tale remind me of when I went to London because he is such a huge influence there. His burial place in Westminster Abby has a large plaque and is one of the few I remember specifically seeing. I find interesting the diversity of the pilgrims [[#|traveling]] in the group. There is not just diversity in their occupations/titles, but also the way in which they act in comparison to what their titles would suggest. The Knight, the Parson, and the Nun’s Priest are all true to what you would expect them to be, but then there are some like the Pardoner, the Summoner, and the Friar are not.
The idea of the “estates” we read [[#|background information]] on was also interesting. There were only three of them; the "First Estate" was the Church, the "Second Estate" was the Nobility, and the "Third Estate" was the Peasantry. But then women were put into a separate set of three estates; either virgin, wife or widow. Instead of being judged by their occupation, they were so by their sexual activity. I believe that was sexism at its finest.
9/20
This week we finished up Dante’s Inferno, reading Cantos 19-34. It starts off in the third bolgia of the Eight Circle; this belongs to the Simonists. This is where we [[#|start]] to see Dante changing, and becoming approving of the punishments Hell torments its sinners with. The Simonists are inverted into holes in the ground, with simply their legs and feet popping up and out; the bottoms of their feet are on fire, the fire being hotter with the severity of specific sins. Dante states that they are like assassins that would be punished by being buried upside; I suppose that is fitting seeing as how people who sell church [[#|offices]] could be considered assassins of the church. Or, the fact that they pocketed [[#|money]] sinfully gained, and therefore got pocketed in a stone pocket in the Inferno. Jesus did not use simony in choosing apostles and popes ought not to use it in awarding church offices.
Here he talks to Pope Nicholas III , who is thrashing more than the rest, the bottoms of his feet seared by the hottest flames. The Pope thinks that Dante is Boniface VIII (since he is buried upside down in the ground and can’t see him). Dante listens to the story of Pope Nicholas, but instead of feeling pity like he has so far, he states that he wishes Nicholas to stay there and endure his rightful punishment. The pilgrim goes off on him, actually. Dante tells him that he worshipped [[#|gold and silver]] instead of God, so now he is in Hell. Virgil is pleased with this change in Dante.
However that change is not permanent; it is on and off in the following Cantos – in fact, in the very next Canto (the fourth bolgia where [[#|fortune tellers]] are punished by having their heads turned backwards), he starts to cry and Virgil has to criticize him. This punishment was the punishment I found to be the worst. It is fitting however. The fortune-tellers and diviners looked ahead into the future when they were alive, and now must look backwards for the rest of eternity. There are many people in this bolgia, and it would surely be a frightful sight to behold.
9/13
This week we started reading Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri. The introduction gave us some background on Dante the Poet, which I felt was really helpful in reading about Dante the Pilgrim’s journey through the Inferno. Also, although I knew of Dante’s Inferno and had heard of The Divine Comedy, I had no idea that the Divine Comedy included Dante’s Inferno as well as the Purgatory and Paradise [[#|books]]. In fact, I didn’t know Purgatory and Paradise existed; all I ever heard about was the Inferno because of its apparent dominant popularity over the other two. One thing I love about stories such as these is the fact that they have very helpful footnotes. The footnotes are incredibly helpful in understanding the different writing style and references made. I’ve also been using the [[#|study]] guide that was posted on the wiki. It’s very helpful as well, and I’ve used it to add in my own notes in the margins of the pages. Hopefully the person that gets this [[#|book]] after me won’t mind too much!
I love allegory used in stories. Such as the three animals chasing Dante back down the mountain are meant to stand for sins, and are referenced later as envy, greed, and pride. I also like that we get to hear little historical stories from the sinners in the Inferno as Dante goes through the levels and talks to them. As he goes down each level, the sins (as well as the punishments) get worse and worse. Something I found funny in our most recent reading is when Dante recognizes one of the sinners in the eight circle as Venedico Caccianemico, but Venedico doesn’t want to be recognized or remembered. Apparently his sin was so bad that he doesn’t want to be seen, nor does he want his story told when Dante goes [[#|back up]] to join the rest of the living. This is different from the beginning Cantos, where the souls are constantly telling Dante to remember and not forget them.
Today in class we talked about how the levels of hell are arranged and why they are arranged in such a manner. It is all spelled out in Canto eleven, when Dante and Virgil take a break and Virgil fills the time by describing the circles. I found myself disagreeing with the [[#|order]] of the circles, although not the circles of fraud and treachery as were debated in class. Instead I find it strange that Lust Is the most least punishable of the sins – even the [[#|incontinence]] sins. I feel like Lust would be worse than Gluttony at the very least, but not in Dante’s world. Oh well; I just found the [[#|order]] of sins to be interesting.
8/30
The Introduction to Christianity on Khan Academy was a good way to introduce to us the aspect of religion - which we talked about the rest of the week. As someone that really doesn't know a whole lot of anything about religions of any kind it was interesting to learn about what exactly made Christianity different from Judaism. Also it helped me compare Christianity with the later learned about Islam, and see just how similar the two religions are. Islam is extremely monotheistic, refusing to have imagery of anything that can look like God or the prophets. They also disbelieve in the trinity. However both religions believe in charity and giving to those less fortunate. Although where Christianity has monks and nuns, Muslims don't believe in anyone having the [[#|power]] to channel God above everyone else in that way. God is in everyone.
The amount of art that has to do with religion is insane. Of course there are the famous works like The Last Supper, The Nativity, and The Crucifixion, but there are so many other works as well that [[#|show all]] parts of Jesus's life.
The fact that Christianity was once an extreme [[#|mystery]] cult is also interesting. [[#|Mystery]] cults played emphasis on the belief of salvation and an after life. Christianity was a mystery cult until the year 312, when Emperor Constantine of Rome had a miraculous conversion into Christianity after a battle he had, and as such he worked to make Christianity the official religion of Rome. He built the Church of St. Peter, and we learned about the meaning and usage of Basilicas. It was a crazy turn around for the empire of Rome, where old Romans believed in the polytheism of many gods. I feel like it would have caused more of an uprising or protest than we read/heard about. Overall, the history of Christianity, and its ties with the other top religions, is extremely interesting. At least to me.
8/23 Introductions
Hello! My name is Delaney Tuck and I am an Accounting and Women’s and Gender Studies major coming into Ball State as a Freshman this year. Because I’m unsure of what to do for a weekly response and Mr. Hartman said an introduction of ourselves was okay, that’s what I’m going to do. Let’s see; I have two older brothers and an older sister. They are all in their late thirties so I am most definitely the baby of the family. My sister is an accountant for the state of Tennessee, so that’s how I came to decide I also wanted to major in Accounting. The Women’s and Gender Studies major comes from my advisor in High [[#|School]], who told me that if I wanted to double major I should choose something on the other side of the scale from accounting. I took his advice, and I chose Women’s and Gender Studies because on the list of majors, Accounting is one of the first on the list in Women’s and Gender Studies is one of the last. Alphabetical order probably wasn’t the best way to choose my second major, but it also sounds interesting. I play a few sports; mainly Golf, Tennis, and Softball. I also joined the Ball State Judo Club, so I hope to have a black belt along with my [[#|degree]] when I graduate. The other [[#|classes]] I’m taking are Astronomy, Theatre, English, and Econ!
Thoughts on The Medieval and Early Modern World [[#|The Medieval Period]] was from years 100-1450, and the Early Modern Period followed from 1450-1650. However, this dates differ depending on what culture is being spoken of. In China, for instance, the medieval period started with the collapse of the Han dynasty in 220. In these time periods culture expanded all the way from Andalusia (Spain) to Kyoto, Japan. The trade routes were a major part of this culture expansion. Religions were also able to expand – Buddhism, Christianity and Islam in particular.
I know that when I originally thought of the medieval ages, I thought of knights on horses riding through a village of serfs plagued with disease and filth. Thank you, movies, and thank you HONRS 202 for showing me that this (so far) is really nothing to do with the medieval period.
This class has me confused on what exactly it is; is it an ? Are we learning about religion? But reading has informed me that we learn both because both were such large factors in the medieval times. Religion influenced the art, art influenced religion, religion even influenced science. It was the churches that started to establish universities, and the monks who had the massive libraries in their monasteries. It is because of the Muslim faith and the Crusades that we have some inventions that we do today….the compass, for example. I didn’t know religion played such a huge role in the creation of our world and cultures, but it is amazing to learn. I’ve always had an interest in other religions (particularly Islam) so this has really peaked that interest even more.
Music is something I appreciated doing this week, especially more than looking at art and a little more than reading. I was in band since 5th grade until graduation, and thought about being a music performance major, so music is something I really like and understand. I’ve always thought of music, especially classical music, as having a story and emotional substance to it ever since I started playing flute and piano at around 10. I also enjoyed using the parts we used from listening to the classical music and listening for it in songs with words. Especially The Beatles ‘And I Love Her.’ I love The Beatles. Music means a lot to me and depending on the type of music and the song it can invoke different reactions and feelings. I’ve used Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ to put me to sleep for a long time because it’s relaxing and soothing. Then there are other songs for when I wake up in the morning to wake me up and energize me. There are also songs to help you get through a mood. When I’m angry or sad I will listen to certain songs to get me out of the funk. There is nothing more therapeutic than music to me.
11/8
Candide was a story I read in my Junior year of High School, when we were studying satirical novels. It is a fast-paced story with short chapters that I remember finding easy to read. It could get confusing at times with where they were and what was happening if one doesn’t take their time, however. I remember laughing at this story often. The characters are obnoxious and the plot lines are crazy. But that’s part of what makes the story such a good satire. It’s so incredibly unbelievable with the events and the character’s reactions.
Moments like Candide getting picked to go to war simply because his height matches that of the other soldiers around him. The story satires many philosophies and ways of thinking. Candide says that “there is no effect without a cause”, and Pangloss is forever preaching his way of optimism. I don’t agree with Pangloss whenever he says “. . . those who say everything is well are uttering mere stupidities; they should say everything is for the best.” I don’t believe that everything that happens is for the best. Sure everything happens for a reason but sometimes those reasons aren’t the best. The only thing about Pangloss that I like as a character is when he explains his bout of syphilis to Candide. He explains it in quite a funny manner. It’s the only time such a serious STD could be funny, I imagine. Sure he ends up losing an ear and an eye but it makes for a moment of hilarity in the story.
10/11
For my first essay, I will be writing the compare/contrast essay. I plan on comparing Dante’s Inferno to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Both of these works consist of a religious journey; Dante goes through hell in order to get back on the right path after he has strayed off of it and the pilgrims are on a religious pilgrimage to the city of Centerbury. In both pieces, the author had put themselves into their own work and serve as narrator. Both pieces also show a dislike for the Catholic church. (Dante puts popes and other religious figures in Hell; Chaucer makes most of the church figures corrupt.)
Not only do I plan on focusing on the story similarities, but also the way they were written and the influence they had on the people of the time. Like how they were both written in a language “of the people” (Dante in Italian; Chaucer in English) instead of the accepted Latin of the day.
As much as I would love to do a “creative” form of essay, I’m really just not creative. So, a 4-6 page traditional essay is what it’s going to be. I should be able to fill at least four pages – I hope!
I picked these two to compare because they were both things that I had already read in High School – although I didn’t already write a comparison paper for them. But they are the two pieces of literature that I know the most about that we have read so far, and I’m the kind of person that likes to make things easier on myself by going with what I know. Of course I plan on probably doing a little bit of research to learn some new things, but for the most part I don’t think it should be too difficult.
10/4
This week we got out of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, starting off with Thomas More’s Utopia. More wrote Utopia in 1516, only about twenty-five years after the founding/colonization of North America. I think it’s important to keep this in mind (along with the other important historical events that took place before the time). I feel like the finding of the Americas could have been a big influence on More’s Utopia; it was a new world, one that could be molded and shaped fresh. This may have led More to think about what would be a perfect world – hence, Utopia was born. No war, no fighting, no struggling, no thievery…a perfect society in which was the creation of its own genre. But Utopia had some questionable means of dealing with things, in my opinion; such as their solution to overpopulation where they send the over populous out to take over a new land and absorb the locals there (if there are any) into their society without question and/or choice. Because we all know that would go over oh so smoothly. I also don’t agree with slavery being an aspect of Utopia. If a Utopia is supposed to be a perfect society for all of its inhabitants, wouldn’t that also include the slaves? Surely the slaves cannot enjoy being treated unequally, even if their slavery isn’t as bad as the slavery we envision (being whipped to do fieldwork, for example). And one of the aspects of Utopia is equality…except for, apparently, the slaves. Utopia also distances itself from other countries but yet still claims to have more than the necessary resources it needs to keep all of its citizens not only alive, but happy. Realistically, I feel like this would be impossible because they would eventually have to run out of resources that are not renewable. There isn’t a real government in Utopia either, although there is a sort of community leader. I feel this is unrealistic simply because there would be some form of anarchy. The people in Utopia are, in fact, people; not [[#|robots]], so they must have conflicting thoughts, views, personalities etc.. this makes the idea of conflict being erased also completely unrealistic. So although the idea of utopian societies are, as their name suggests, perfect – it is still merely an idea.
9/27
I’ve always enjoyed The Canterbury Tales ever since I read it my Sophomore year of high [[#|school]]. I would have liked to read more than just the Wife of Bath’s tale/prologue in this class (the Pardoner’s tale is my favorite). The Wife of Bath’s tale is a good one that I enjoy too, though. [[#|
The idea of the “estates” we read [[#|background information]] on was also interesting. There were only three of them; the "First Estate" was the Church, the "Second Estate" was the Nobility, and the "Third Estate" was the Peasantry. But then women were put into a separate set of three estates; either virgin, wife or widow. Instead of being judged by their occupation, they were so by their sexual activity. I believe that was sexism at its finest.
9/20
This week we finished up Dante’s Inferno, reading Cantos 19-34. It starts off in the third bolgia of the Eight Circle; this belongs to the Simonists. This is where we [[#|start]] to see Dante changing, and becoming approving of the punishments Hell torments its sinners with. The Simonists are inverted into holes in the ground, with simply their legs and feet popping up and out; the bottoms of their feet are on fire, the fire being hotter with the severity of specific sins. Dante states that they are like assassins that would be punished by being buried upside; I suppose that is fitting seeing as how people who sell church [[#|offices]] could be considered assassins of the church. Or, the fact that they pocketed [[#|money]] sinfully gained, and therefore got pocketed in a stone pocket in the Inferno. Jesus did not use simony in choosing apostles and popes ought not to use it in awarding church offices.
Here he talks to Pope Nicholas III , who is thrashing more than the rest, the bottoms of his feet seared by the hottest flames. The Pope thinks that Dante is Boniface VIII (since he is buried upside down in the ground and can’t see him). Dante listens to the story of Pope Nicholas, but instead of feeling pity like he has so far, he states that he wishes Nicholas to stay there and endure his rightful punishment. The pilgrim goes off on him, actually. Dante tells him that he worshipped [[#|gold and silver]] instead of God, so now he is in Hell. Virgil is pleased with this change in Dante.
However that change is not permanent; it is on and off in the following Cantos – in fact, in the very next Canto (the fourth bolgia where [[#|fortune tellers]] are punished by having their heads turned backwards), he starts to cry and Virgil has to criticize him. This punishment was the punishment I found to be the worst. It is fitting however. The fortune-tellers and diviners looked ahead into the future when they were alive, and now must look backwards for the rest of eternity. There are many people in this bolgia, and it would surely be a frightful sight to behold.
9/13
This week we started reading Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri. The introduction gave us some background on Dante the Poet, which I felt was really helpful in reading about Dante the Pilgrim’s journey through the Inferno. Also, although I knew of Dante’s Inferno and had heard of The Divine Comedy, I had no idea that the Divine Comedy included Dante’s Inferno as well as the Purgatory and Paradise [[#|books]]. In fact, I didn’t know Purgatory and Paradise existed; all I ever heard about was the Inferno because of its apparent dominant popularity over the other two. One thing I love about stories such as these is the fact that they have very helpful footnotes. The footnotes are incredibly helpful in understanding the different writing style and references made. I’ve also been using the [[#|study]] guide that was posted on the wiki. It’s very helpful as well, and I’ve used it to add in my own notes in the margins of the pages. Hopefully the person that gets this [[#|book]] after me won’t mind too much!
I love allegory used in stories. Such as the three animals chasing Dante back down the mountain are meant to stand for sins, and are referenced later as envy, greed, and pride. I also like that we get to hear little historical stories from the sinners in the Inferno as Dante goes through the levels and talks to them. As he goes down each level, the sins (as well as the punishments) get worse and worse. Something I found funny in our most recent reading is when Dante recognizes one of the sinners in the eight circle as Venedico Caccianemico, but Venedico doesn’t want to be recognized or remembered. Apparently his sin was so bad that he doesn’t want to be seen, nor does he want his story told when Dante goes [[#|back up]] to join the rest of the living. This is different from the beginning Cantos, where the souls are constantly telling Dante to remember and not forget them.
Today in class we talked about how the levels of hell are arranged and why they are arranged in such a manner. It is all spelled out in Canto eleven, when Dante and Virgil take a break and Virgil fills the time by describing the circles. I found myself disagreeing with the [[#|order]] of the circles, although not the circles of fraud and treachery as were debated in class. Instead I find it strange that Lust Is the most least punishable of the sins – even the [[#|incontinence]] sins. I feel like Lust would be worse than Gluttony at the very least, but not in Dante’s world. Oh well; I just found the [[#|order]] of sins to be interesting.
8/30
The Introduction to Christianity on Khan Academy was a good way to introduce to us the aspect of religion - which we talked about the rest of the week. As someone that really doesn't know a whole lot of anything about religions of any kind it was interesting to learn about what exactly made Christianity different from Judaism. Also it helped me compare Christianity with the later learned about Islam, and see just how similar the two religions are. Islam is extremely monotheistic, refusing to have imagery of anything that can look like God or the prophets. They also disbelieve in the trinity. However both religions believe in charity and giving to those less fortunate. Although where Christianity has monks and nuns, Muslims don't believe in anyone having the [[#|power]] to channel God above everyone else in that way. God is in everyone.
The amount of art that has to do with religion is insane. Of course there are the famous works like The Last Supper, The Nativity, and The Crucifixion, but there are so many other works as well that [[#|show all]] parts of Jesus's life.
The fact that Christianity was once an extreme [[#|mystery]] cult is also interesting.
[[#|Mystery]] cults played emphasis on the belief of salvation and an after life. Christianity was a mystery cult until the year 312, when Emperor Constantine of Rome had a miraculous conversion into Christianity after a battle he had, and as such he worked to make Christianity the official religion of Rome. He built the Church of St. Peter, and we learned about the meaning and usage of Basilicas. It was a crazy turn around for the empire of Rome, where old Romans believed in the polytheism of many gods. I feel like it would have caused more of an uprising or protest than we read/heard about. Overall, the history of Christianity, and its ties with the other top religions, is extremely interesting. At least to me.
8/23
Introductions
Hello! My name is Delaney Tuck and I am an Accounting and Women’s and Gender Studies major coming into Ball State as a Freshman this year. Because I’m unsure of what to do for a weekly response and Mr. Hartman said an introduction of ourselves was okay, that’s what I’m going to do. Let’s see; I have two older brothers and an older sister. They are all in their late thirties so I am most definitely the baby of the family. My sister is an accountant for the state of Tennessee, so that’s how I came to decide I also wanted to major in Accounting. The Women’s and Gender Studies major comes from my advisor in High [[#|School]], who told me that if I wanted to double major I should choose something on the other side of the scale from accounting. I took his advice, and I chose Women’s and Gender Studies because on the list of majors, Accounting is one of the first on the list in Women’s and Gender Studies is one of the last. Alphabetical order probably wasn’t the best way to choose my second major, but it also sounds interesting. I play a few sports; mainly Golf, Tennis, and Softball. I also joined the Ball State Judo Club, so I hope to have a black belt along with my [[#|degree]] when I graduate. The other [[#|classes]] I’m taking are Astronomy, Theatre, English, and Econ!
Thoughts on The Medieval and Early Modern World
[[#|The Medieval Period]] was from years 100-1450, and the Early Modern Period followed from 1450-1650. However, this dates differ depending on what culture is being spoken of. In China, for instance, the medieval period started with the collapse of the Han dynasty in 220. In these time periods culture expanded all the way from Andalusia (Spain) to Kyoto, Japan. The trade routes were a major part of this culture expansion. Religions were also able to expand – Buddhism, Christianity and Islam in particular.
I know that when I originally thought of the medieval ages, I thought of knights on horses riding through a village of serfs plagued with disease and filth. Thank you, movies, and thank you HONRS 202 for showing me that this (so far) is really nothing to do with the medieval period.
This class has me confused on what exactly it is; is it an