Hillary for President - Speaking to my fellow classmates
Most of you have already turned 18 or will be turning 18 by the time of the 2008 elections. Being 18 in this country gives you a special privilege. This privilege is the right to vote and it means that you are mature and smart enough to make the right choice for the next leader of our country. We are approaching one of the most important presidential elections of our lifetime, if not THE MOST important, and I am here to tell you why Hilary Rodham Clinton is the best candidate for the job. Based on her stance on some very important issues our country is dealing with, it should make it easier for you to make the right choice. Some of these issues are The War in Iraq, Strengthening the Middle Class, and Providing Affordable & Accessible Health Care. As president Hillary Clinton will work to make the best decisions and provide the best results for each of these issues.
For those that are unaware the national debt of our country has exceeded $9 trillion according to a statistic found at The National Priorities Project web site. This is important in relation to the war in Iraq. Of which, The Boston Globe reported that economists predict the cost of war could top $2 trillion. So the war alone will cost a little less then ¼ of the total national debt. This is all money that is being wasted on this war when it could be used for other important internal aspects of our country that need support, such as the health care system. Hillary Clinton is strongly against the war in Iraq and has consistently that if President Bush does not end the war in Iraq before he leaves office, if she is elected president, she will. In her campaign web site, HillaryClinton.com she states once in office she will implement her three-step plan for ending the war. First and foremost she will start bringing the troops home. Second, she will work to bring stability to the region of Iraq, and third, she will replace military force with a new diplomatic initiative to engage countries around the world in securing Iraq’s future.
The Aztec Civilization
Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico. The Aztec Empire rose around the fourteenth and fifteenth century. After the fall of Tulla in 1168, Mexico became a battlefield where many different groups fought for power. By forming alliances, trading and wars these groups formed one empire to what we know today as the Aztecs. The empire was strong and self sufficient and lasted until 1519 when they would fall to the Spaniards.
The Aztecs beliefs were centered on their perception of nature, space, and cycles. For the most part they were concerned with the destructive force of nature, avoiding these forces and finding harmony. One of these beliefs was that the sun fought darkness and rose to save mankind, and also they believed if they fed the sun blood it would rise thus resulting in many sacrifices. The Aztecs respected their gods very much. They put their greatest efforts into making strong, beautiful temples to please their gods. Their arts had a part in their religion. They drew pictures that told about their gods. They recorded religious events with hieroglyphics and even number symbols. The Aztecs worshipped about 1,000 gods! But they worshipped the sun god the most. Religious ceremonies took place in a temple called a teocalli. This temple had sacred pools for ceremonial cleansing, gardens, living quarters for a priest, and racks to hold the skulls of victims. Religion played a great part in Aztec life.
The Aztecs had many different forms of housing. Depending on social class the housing would be different. The rich had their houses built by slaves out of mud, stick, hay, and plaster. These pillars of the rich would be decorated to show their aristocracy and would usually be surrounded by grass. The common people or the poor built their houses on their own. It usually consisted with a hut and 1 blanket inside for sleeping. Most Aztecs lived in the City and it was called Mexico City Square.
The Aztecs main source of food was maize, a type of corn, which they traded and sold. The Aztecs also grew tomatoes and avocadoes, with which they used to make tortillas and tamales (traditional foods). Another food that they ate was chocolate. In their culture chocolate was only served for nobility and warriors. It was believed to provide stamina and also used in sacred rituals. Chocolate was a food for the elite.
The Aztecs had small city states and each with a leader to speak for them. These small communities were led by Tlatoani or “Great Speaker”. They were imperialistic and hungered for more power. They would conquer other lands and make these people pay the Empire taxes for food and clothing provided to them. In their government there was a king as a totalitarian ruler, with an adviser at his side known as “Woman Snake” who was in charge of law and order. There were lesser social class persons but of great nobility known as the council men who were in charge of dividing the land. Then there were nobles, craftsmen, merchants and peasants. The Aztecs were also slave owners.
The Olmec Civilization
The Olmec were ancient pre-Colombian people living in the south of Mexico. They were dated to be around from 1200 BC to 400 BC. They were one of the foundations for the development of late Mesoamerican civilizations.
The civilization was near the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys. A lot of ancient artifacts such as jade, obsidian and magnetite, came from the Olmec civilizations. They also got a lot of success because they had lots of trades with early Mesoamerica.
The actual ethnicity of he Olmec remains unknown. Many people have thrown around different theories. The most famous include, Lyle Campbell and Terrance Kaufman. But most other people say that the Olmec population spoke the Mixe-Zoquean language. Now the Olmec culture is now commonly considered as the first “high culture” of Mesoamerica.
Olmec religious activities were carried out by a combination of rulers, full-time priests, and shamans. At that time the rulers were the most religious figures. The people thought they had supernatural abilities and that’s why they had the right to be in power and rule. There also was very little left about the mythology of the Olmec culture. So in today’s world most of the statements are made from inferences.
Little is known about the societal or political organization of Olmec society. People think that the colossal heads and several other sculptures represent rulers, but still there is no exact proof of this. After a lot of research archeologists believe that the Olmec civilization was highly centralized.
The places in the society were very large ceremonial centers. Most people lived in villages with houses scattered around. There were a lot of rivers for the people to use to crop food. They had a lot of agriculture and a lot of good natural resources where they lived.
My Peer Review Draft
Word Count
Word Count:
- Promoting Your Blog – 365 words
- Neurotheology – 650 words
- Parable – 263 words
- The Teotihuacan Civilization – 300 words
Total = 1578 words
The Teotihuacan Civilization
The history of Teotihuacan is weird. Some people believe it was built by the Toltec people, an early Mexican civilization. Others believe that the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacan. The society was strong for a while. Its peak was between 150 and 450. They were strong politically and culturally. They had a lot of interactions with the Mayans as well. This civilization came about shortly after the end of the Olmec civilization.
But after they were so strong they fell apart. This was during the 7th and 8th centuries. At first during the 6th century there was a steady decline of population. Then came the invaders. There were too many of them. There were also problems amongst the structure of the society. They were not able to stay together. Also then came into affect the weather conditions. There were many droughts and the climate was very bad.
The Teotihuacan was a very multi-ethnic culture. The language that was spoken was of Totonacan and Mixe-Zoquean linguistic connection. This idea was made by Terrence Kaufman in 2001. The religion of Teotihuacan was similar to those of additional Mesoamerican cultures. A lot of the same gods were worshiped in both situations and also there was a lot of power given to religious figures as well. Human bodies and animal sacrifices were also a big part of their religion. They also used pyramids to worship gods. They had the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon.
The lifestyle was similar to all other Mesoamerican civilizations as well. Farmers mostly lived in wooden houses and the other part of the population lived in stone houses decorated with paintings and murals and it sometimes also included with elaborate drainage systems. Most of the populations were farmers.
Just a short Parable
The Farmer’s Revelation
There once was a hard working farmer, who always did what was in the best interest of his family. He was a single father who provided for a family of three. Everyday he would wake up, eat breakfast, drive his 2 children to pre-school, and then go to work himself. After work, he would pick up his kids, make them dinner and then with a kiss from each and a “Good night daddy” he would tuck them in and fall asleep to refresh his fatigued body. This was the daily routine for this man and his children. While eating dinner one night, a representative from The American Children’s Diabetes Association knocked on his door. The woman introduced herself and asked if he would be willing to make a donation to raise awareness of juvenile diabetes. Exhaling hard from his nose and shaking his head, the farmer replied “That’s a nice trick you’re pulling, juvidale daibeets, go try it on someone else!” Shutting the door with a loud “Pffft” he returned to the table and continued his routine. A month later, after a long day at work, he was awoken by his daughter in the middle of the night. The waiting room at the hospital was the most uncomfortable place he had ever been in. A doctor finally approached him, “She’s going to be fine, the fever was a result of very high sugar levels, your daughter is a diabetic.” The farmer became president of The Center of Diabetes Awareness.
(A parable is a brief story that illustrates a moral.)
Neurotheology: Is God All in Our Heads?
Dr. James H. Austin is a Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Missouri Health Science Center. He is the author of Zen and the Brain, a well known book that tries to establish links between the neurological workings of the human brain and meditation. Dr. Austin is also a practiced Zen Buddhist. After many years of Zen meditation, he experienced what Zen practice calls “enlightenment” on a subway station in London. As he waited for the train, he glanced away from the tracks and at the river Thames. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. He noticed the grimy underground station, some buildings, and the gray sky. He was thinking about the Zen Buddhist retreat that he was headed to and then suddenly he felt a sense of enlightenment unlike any other. Instantly the view acquired what he described as three qualities: “Absolute Reality, Intrinsic Rightness, and Ultimate Reflection.” His sense of individual existence evaporated and he saw things as “they really are.” The sense of “I, me, mine” disappeared he says, “Time was not present, and I had a sense of eternity. Total Understanding went depths far beyond simple knowledge: This is the eternal state of affairs. There is nothing more to do. There is nothing whatever to fear.”
Many people would call this a mystical experience or a religious moment, however, Dr. Austin refuses to do so, he says that this experience was purely psychological. Rather than viewing this experience as a reality beyond the comprehension of our senses, Austin took it as proof of the existence of the brain. As a neurologist, Austin accepts the idea that all that we see, feel, hear and think are created by the brain. His experience on the train platform inspired him to explore the neurological theories of spiritual and mystical experiences. He reasoned that certain circuits of the brain must be interrupted in order for someone to be able to encounter an experience such as the one he had. Frontal and temporal lobe circuits, which monitor time and generate self-awareness, must be interrupted. The amygdala, which monitors the environment for threats and generates fear, must be damped. The parietal lobe, which marks the distinction between self and world, must also be interrupted. Dr. Austin concluded that when all of these parts of the brain become dysfunctional in some way or another the functions of selfhood appear to drop out or dissolve away from consciousness enough to give off the illusion of a spiritual experience.
This new science that began with Dr. James H. Austin is called neurotheology. By definition neurotheology is the study of correlations of neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and hypotheses to explain these phenomena. Proponents of neurotheology claim that there is a neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual. Spiritual experience is specifically defined in neurotheology. Subjects may feel at one with the universe, experience sudden enlightenment, altered states of consciousness, ecstatic trance or spiritual awe.
Anything that we experience, from the sound of wolf howl to the sight of the wolf, the feeling of love and the thought of something mythical, all leave a trace on our brain. So the idea that a religious experience could be reflected in brain activity is not at all surprising. However, neurotheology is not only trying to affirm that spiritual feelings are caused by functions of the brain through deep prayer or meditation. It is also a science that researches which areas of the brain are involved in spiritual experiences and how such experiences arise. The scientists hope to learn whether anyone can have such experiences, and why spiritual experiences have the qualities that they do.
Promoting Your Blog
Networking is a great way to promote your blog. Networking will increase traffic to your blog and it will make blogging more enjoyable for you. By networking I mean commenting on other people’s blogs, answering the comments that others leave on your blog, keeping contact with your readers by email and connecting with people by social networking sites such as facebook and myspace. There are many ways that networking will promote your blog.
One way is to be generous. If you have an idea that will enhance another person’s blog, then you should tell them. Don’t be greedy and keep it to yourself because if you help someone else out your work will not go unnoticed. They will try to return the favor and help you out in your blog, thus giving you more readers. However, don’t be too generous, save some ideas to write on your own blog.
Something that you should remember is that you shouldn’t expect too much, too fast. Let your blog grow in time. Keep adding new things and keep on writing responses to your comments and if you are dedicated to it you will draw many readers to your page. Also, don’t only look for the top bloggers to try and help you connect to other people. It is a great way to get noticed, but they are approached by so many people each day that it is very unlikely for one to gain much recognition from them. You should look for those bloggers that are on their way up, who have a growing traffic but still not considered an “A-list” blogger. You are more likely to get more recognition by commenting on their blogs.
Another way networking will help you get noticed is if people start depending on you. When you give good advice and you are constantly commenting in other people’s blogs, people will ask you for help. When this happens and you can help them or direct them to someone who can this will create positive feedback for you. You can find these and many other ideas to promote your blog from Problogger.
