El Fin
This class, even though difficult at times, has been one of my favorite classes. Not simply because of the topic, but because of the sense of community were able to make between all of us. Having a year long class like this really allows us to get to know one another, which is good... usually hahaha.

This class really pushed me to do more than I ever have for a class and I am a better student for it. Throughout the course of this class I have certainly developed many skills that will help me for the rest of my college career, such as my writing abilities. I knew I wasn't the best writer coming into this class, however I believe that I have left this class a better writer, or at least with the knowledge of what I need to do to become a better writer. To be completely honest, this was the hardest class I have ever taken, but it was worth it. I learned a lot about myself, and it is because of the way Professor Stark and Professor Serrata set this class up and a wanted us to analyze not just the literature, but also ourselves.

However, even though this class was hard, does not mean I don't think we didn't have any fun, as we had the dance lesson and our field trip to Chicago, as well as just always having a good time in class! Needless to say, I did enjoy our trip to Chicago a lot and will remember that for a long time, you know what, I will remember this class for a long time. It was great getting to know you all and I hope that everyone has a great summer!

Response to Elena's blog #11

Elena, I really like the connection you made between Maria Antonietta Saa and Veronica Corningstone. Anchorman is one of my favorite movies and I think it is awesome that you managed to relate it to the societal roles that women were place in, in Chile between Allende's and Pinochet's regime. And I completely agree with you, I think it's very interesting how many people were concerned that women were going above what their traditional roles called them to do, such as taking care of the house and kids. Nice blog!

Blog # 11- The Heights of Macchu Picchu

After the first day of discussing this poem and talking more about what all the parts of the piece could mean I decided that this poem might not be so bad after all. I really liked what our group came up with in our discussion about how Neruda begins the poem talking about the death of an individual but then, as the poem progresses, it moves to talking about the death in relation to the community. He does this by listing all the different types of workers; the farm worker, the weaver, the quiet shepherd, the mason, to name a few. He is attempting to join all these different types of people together in order to make a connection to the past society that once lived on this great, historic monument. It is clear that Neruda is expressing his longing to have seen this past society in all its greatness, and that he is in awe of everything that they were able to accomplish. So after realizing all of these attributes of the poem I decided to give Neruda another shot, so I read another poem by him. The poem is called "poema veinte" and I really, really enjoyed reading this poem. Granted it was a simpler, and shorter poem than his "heights of macchu picchu", I still liked this poem. I read it in both english and spanish and it gave me a new view of Neruda, because after reading the macchu picchu poem I wasn't so sure about him! Anyways, thats all for now, and below this blog is "poema XX" in both spanish and english:

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.		Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Escribir, por ejemplo: -La noche esta estrellada,		Write, for example, 'The night is starry
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos-.		and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'
El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.		The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.		Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.		I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.		Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.		I kissed her so many times under the endless sky.
Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.		She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.		How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.		Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.		To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
Oír la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella.		To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.		And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.		What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.		The night is starry and she is not with me.
Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos.		This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.		My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca.		My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.		My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.		The same night whitening the same trees.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.		We, of that time, are no longer the same.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise.		I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.		My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos.		Another's. She will be another's. As before she was of my kisses.
Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.		Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.		I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.		Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos,		Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms,
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.		my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa,		Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer,
y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.		and these the last verses that I write for her.

Blog Number 8

For blog number 8 here, I would like to discuss Borges' short story "The South". Specifically I would like to point out the issue of choice and decisions. The first time reading the story I simply "read" it, however after re-reading it for class today I began to pick up on some things that I had missed on the first go of it. What I realized was that throughout the entire story, Juan Dahlmann seems to make very little, if any conscious decisions. In fact, I believe that the only point in the story that he make a concise and purposeful choice, was when he decided to take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator, at the beginning of the story. Now, you might be saying, "wait, Dahlmann made other choices, he decided to go to ranch that he has been longing for." This too, is what I initially thought, however, when I was reading I realized that he went right from being in the sanatorium to being on his way to the ranch, there was no transition, not even him thinking "I'm going to go the ranch now". And the only thing that made me read closely enough to discover that this wasn't his choice at all was the mention of "destiny" at the beginning of the second paragraph. After reading that line I started reading the paper trying to figure out if any of what happened to him was due to his own choosing, or if some divine plan was the cause of everything. And what I came to find out was that after choosing to take the stairs, he simply made no more decisions. For example, once the sanatorium was about to release him the doctor told him he would go to his ranch for "convalescence". It wasn't his decision at all to go there, regardless of whether he wanted to or not. Again we see his choice voided during his train ride as the railroad inspector tells Dahlmann that he cannot get off where his ticket says, instead he must get off at an earlier stop. All of this leads to him making it to the general store where the Gaucho throws him the knife, basically making the decision to fight for him.    Well, those are just my thoughts anyways. Until next time....

My response to Gabrielle's post Number 8:

Great post Gabrielle! I completely agree with your post and think you brought some great insight here. Yes, as Juan travels from the city to the countryside we see a change from the so called "civilized" society to the "barbaric" side of life. And that as he went to the countryside issues were settled with violence, such as the knife scene in the short story. And its true, many people still view farming as the "old" way of life, even though it has made huge leaps and bounds in terms of modernization. So that is a good question, maybe its because we associate farmers as overall wearers that talk like they never went to school, which we know is not the case. But that's a solid question, that I simply do not know the answer to.

Response to Ian's blog #7

Ian, I really enjoyed reading your post on murals and I have also done a project on Michelangleo as well, although it was a little longer ago than junior year for me. In particular, I like the mural that you chose to show on your blog as I believe that it does have a significant amount of symbolism in it. I agree with your interpretations about the right and the left side and how the left-most edge has leaves and rocks while the right-most part is barren. That is one thing I appreciate about the classical/renassaince painters is that they always made their works portray images with a lot of hidden symbolism. Great post!

Blog #7

Over the past week we have read the book "The Underdogs", and I have really liked this piece of writing. Our most recent discussion questions over the book included a question on which scene would be the most interesting to dramatize. For me, the scene that stood out most prominently, in general, was the analogy with the stone falling down the canyon. Already, this scene is full of drama and unseen tension between Macías' need to continue fighting and his wife's wish that he would stop. As Demetrio picks up the stone and tosses it down the canyon, the drama is pushed to the brink as Demetrio turns to his wife and speaks. He says, 'I cannot stop fighting anymore than that stone can stop falling', or something of the sort. I just found this scene so full of dramatic tension that I couldn't help but write about it. And the interesting thing, is that the stone will stop falling at one point or another when it finally hits the bottom of the canyon. Similarly, Demetrio does encounter his end at the bottom of a canyon like structure. So, just like the falling stone, whose fate was inevitable, Demetrio saw his future in the same way, unchangeable. This scene is so powerful that I believe it could be one of the most important parts of the novel. It can relate to just about everyone, some people view their future as "pre-destined", while others believe they are in control of what will happen to them. Obviously Demetrio Macías saw his fate as already being decided for him. In any case, this scene was very motivational to me. Whether you believe life has an unchanging path, or that you make your future, this scene inspires a sense of man versus destiny, and you can't help but feel like challenging whatever pre-destined designs life has for you. Well, those are my thoughts at least, until next time!

Response to Lauren's Sixth Blog:

Lauren, I really like the connection you made here between the survival of the Mexican Revolution and Palmares. It makes a lot of sense, both movies represent the fact that an ideal is stronger than just one person, and once you have enough people who believe in this ideal, a single death cannot kill it. Like in Viva Zapata, they may have been able to kill the man behind the revolution, but they couldn't kill the idea, or in this case his horse. Implying that the driving ideals still live on and are stronger than ever.

Blog Number Six:

Last week I really liked our discussion on whether or not the movie "Viva Zapata" was a revolutionary film or not. I was very excited about how the way we looked at this question and the ideas that we came up with. Through discussion we realized that this movie, when it came down to it, was about the "uncivilized" versus the "civilized". The interesting thing about it was that in the film Zapata, was characterized as the "uncivilized" person, however Steinbeck and the producers, still portrayed him in a positive light. Whereas the "civilized" person, in this case Gomez, was seen in a rather negative, or untrustworthy point of view. This relates to the question as to whether or not the film is revolutionary, is because most films portray uncivilized characters as being evil and the civilized people as being the "good" influence.
Now, not to change topics too fast but I would like to comment on something that I have thought of throughout this whole lesson over the Mexican Revolution. From watching "Viva Zapata" to reading, The Underdogs, I keep picturing the movie "Zorro", as this film is also about the Mexican Independence. For example, Zorro can relate to The Underdogs, because the main character, Alejandro, comes up from the bottom to take revenge on those who murdered his brother. Anyways, I can't help but think we should convince Professor Stark and Professor Serrata to assign us a Zorro movie for homework! Haha. But here is a clip that kind of represents how low Alejandro starts in the movie, and the kind of attitude he has. And at the very end of the clip I picture how Demetrio's men brandish their weapons similarly as if they are more talented than they really are as well!

Blog #5: The Strenuous Life

Out of all the readings we have done this semester, maybe even the whole year, I found this reading the most interesting. With this speech being full of inspirational quotes and phrases, I couldn't help but feel empowered. After reading this I can see why so many people like Theodore Roosevelt. However, there is no point in his speech where he mentions to dare these mighty deeds with well thought out plans. The foremost attitude I got from this reading was something like "go off half-cocked and hope for the best..." This strategy, while when successful is very impressive, is extremely ineffective and not the best way to live one's life. For example, if we relate this to the movie "Viva Zapata", we will see where Emiliano Zapata's downfall occurred. Right at the end, when Zapata had all he needed in his life, he decided to take an uncalculated risk, which was to collect ammo from a, supposedly, turned national soldier. This situation was clearly a trap, and even though they would have benefited from the ammo they would receive, it still wasn't worth Emiliano dieing over it, and that's exactly what happened. The point here is that, yes, it is much better to live a life full of triumphs, speckled with dots of failure, than it is to "live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat". This, however, does not mean one should forsake common sense and reason and act solely on impulse. And as we saw in Zapata's case, his failure resulted in his death. Now I'm not saying that Roosevelt was wrong here, I mean his goal was to motivate the American people, which this speech should have done that quite well. The strenuous life sounds hard, but full of great successes, so why wouldn't anyone want to live like that?! All I'm saying is if one is going to live a life on the edge, remember to have a safety net below in case you fall!

Response to Ian's blog number 3

Ian, I completely agree with your connection there. I believe that the Federalists were intentionaly portrayed as "the executioners of Christ". This way Echeverría's agrument that they are uncivilized and terrible people would be stressed even more. This seems like just another way for Echeverría to sway his audience to his side of the argument. Excellent connection though!

Blog Number 3

During my reading of the Slaughterhouse I found myself grotesquely fascinated by the story. I mean it was a very good read and had a lot to offer, even though we did have to get through some pretty disgusting parts. That being said, I really enjoyed all the symbolism that was portrayed throughout the short story. Most notably, for me, was the representation of the bull as a Unitarian (or the young Unitarian that came in later). First we see the Federalists beat the bull to death and then once the Unitarian comes into the story the treat him rather similarly; pulling him off his horse kicking him on the ground and then bringing him to the slaughterhouse. Furthermore, the slaughterhouse portrayed Argentine as a country as a whole, I believe. The slaughterhouse was full of violence and disruption, similarly to Argentina at that time. The whole country was in turmoil and at odds with each other. So on a bigger picture, the story represents the differing societies in Argentina at that time and the way in which they interacted with each other, or in other words, fought with one another!

Blog #2 response to Ian Felten 

I really agree with what you have to say, Ian. I mean if the Europeans are as modern/civilized as they claimed to have been they should have been looking out for their fellow human beings. They were so caught up in the what separated their two societies, which was simply their lifestyle, that it prevented them from helping the Gauchos. What the Europeans forgot though, and even what people today seem to forget, is that we are still all people who even though do not all live the same way, should be able to get together and help each other out when it is needed. This, in my opinion, should always be the overriding factor when it comes to helping people out, the fact that we are all humans, the way we differ from one another shouldn't be an issue when it comes to the way we treat other human beings. And that fact should always be kept in mind regardless of what time we live in.

Blog #2

Hello all! Over the past week we have been talking a lot about the civilized society versus the uncivilized societies in the Argentine culture around the 18th century. I know during class we made the connection to the Disney movie "Jungle Book", and the song they sing in there called "I wanna be like you". This was a nice parallel to the Argentine culture in this time period as the Gauchos were not respected because they were viewed as inferior/barbarian, and because of this were thought of as uncivilized. However, the fact of the matter is that they simply did things differently than the Europeans. The city dwellers of Buenos Aires were egocentric of their own ways, they were caught up in "Europeanizing" anything they could get their hands on. This is why I really liked this connection to the movie because it shows how a lot of people want to be like someone/something else. They want to aspire to be better than them self in one way or another and they do this by trying to transform into something entirely different than who they actually are. What is almost ironic about this whole situation (about the Argentine culture), is that the Europeans are annoyed at the uncivilized ways of the Gauchos and peasants of the farm land, yet the only reason the Europeans could be considered "civilized" is because of the presence of an uncivilized people. In order for a society to be considered civilized, one has to have something to compare it to, for example; a society that is not as civilized. Anyways, these are just my rather surface deep thoughts on a very deep and complex topic that has gone way over my head... haha. Well, see you sooon!

Hello all, my name is Connor Nizielski  and I am currently a freshman at Grand Valley State University. As of right now my majors are International Relations and Supply Chain Management, with a minor in Spanish. I am not entirely sure what I plan to do with those majors, but I have some time to figure that out I guess... The main reason I decided to take this class was because of the fact that I am in the middle of learning Spanish and thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a class that would educate me on the background of the culture. I also plan on studying abroad in either Spain or Chile so that was another reason I decided to take this class too I suppose. Anyways, that seems like it should be enough about me... Until next time!