My Reflection

Good evening. It took me a while to get around to this because of finals week at school but I would like to briefly reflect on the application process and my final project. First I would like to say how challenging the application process was. It seemed to me that it didn't get any easier the second time around. I believe the application process does a great job at pushing the applicants to their greatest potential. At the beginning of the process I missed the first Saturday seminar jeopardizing my position in the competition. That made me realize that I needed to take the application process more serious and go beyond what I did last year. I believe this time around I did just that.

My final mini project was quite difficult which is the exact opposite of what I thought it would be. I figured that a two minute video would be easy to make but after losing majority of my footage it became that much more difficult. I also struggled with the content of the video trying to make it educational and entertaining at the same time. I realize that I need to do a lot more work in able to make this into a final project for Context Travel but I think my first time editing went well. Whoever wins I think this was a good learning experience for all of us. Overall I really enjoyed doing this again and I would like to thank Context Travel for allowing me the opportunity.

-Tre'von Walker

The Man Crush

Back in the day the Roman Empire invaded and seized many countries including the equally great Greece. In the process of this invasion they created what Ms.Wanket calls a man crush. On Saturday my counterparts and I attended our last seminar which to me is always the best on Greek Mythology. The reason why the Greek myth seminar is so important to me is because I have an unusual interest in mythology and fantasy. Once again this seminar was review for me so I wanted to make a connection between the myths and real life. Also how the myths pertain to us today. It seems to me that mythology is a simple way of people trying to understand everything around them because the people who worshiped these gods in myths are obviously pre-religion.

One thing that is always significant to me is the simple fact that Greek Mythology is the basis of western civilization. All of the values that we have today are influenced by the Greeks. Just to name a few…

*Trial by Jury

*Tragedy and Comedy

*Building Styles

*The First Alphabet with Vowels

*Olympics

These are thousand year old ideas and we still use these in our everyday lives. Along with the ideas from the Greeks we still reference things from their myths. For example around the Thanksgiving season most people can see a picture of a cornucopia in their local grocery store or on television. Most people don’t know that the king of the gods Zeus was fed from an endless horn of plenty as an infant or what we know as a cornucopia. I think that it is important that when we hear stories of myth and fantasy that we realize the significance behind them and how they connect to today because everyone has a story.

-Tre’von Walker

Greek mythology made easy, animal addition

Today was our final day of Saturday seminars L. Although I am sad that we will not be learning more about Roma on a weekly basis I am glad that we ended with a bang. Our last seminar was on Greek mythology. Now I know what you are thinking, “I thought you were learning about Roma not Greece.” Well to answer that Roman mythology was biased on Greek mythology. Our teacher Mrs. Wanket started out with a little history about Greece and compared it with Roma after which we dove right into learning about Greek mythology. When we were learning about the myths and the stories it was hard to remember who was who and the relationships they shared. So I came up with a system to remember the council of thirteen, which were the main gods and goddesses in Greek mythology. However to understand the system you will have to look at the key. Okay here we go!

Key: zeus= lion, athena= owl, apollo = hawk, hera= lioness, demeter = humming bird, poseidon = dolphin, hades = lizard, artemis= wolf, hermes= pigeon, aphrodite= flamingo , ares= rhino, and hephaestus = turtle, and the secret society = council of thirteen

Mr. Lion married Mrs. Lioness but cheated on her with everyone

Mr. dolphin and Mr. lizard were brothers to Mr. Lion

Mr. turtle married Mrs. flamingo but she cheated on him with everyone

Mrs. humming bird was the mother-in -law to Mr. lizard

Mr. hawk and Mrs. wolf were bother and sister

Mr. pigeon delivered mail to the other members of the secret society

Mr. rhino and Mrs. owl did not get along

All of the animals stated a secret society where Mr. Lion was the head leader.

Although it is short and sweet for me it explains the relationship between the council of thirteen and helps me remember their powers. After all if you know them then everything else seems to make much more since.

Signing out,

Valerie Cordier-Rice

Cannibal Cronus

Im sorry to say, but today was the best seminar ever with Mrs. Wanket. Our focus was the awesome Greek Mythology. There was so much I learned, the more Mrs. wanket talked about the gods, the more they seemed human besides the fact they had powers.

There were two interesting Gods that I just couldn't stop thinking about. The first one is the most famous cannibal Cronus and the second is the beauiful Aphrodite.

The story of Cronus is just amazing. For those of you who don't know the story it goes like this. Cronus overthrow his father Uranus to save the monsters that were put in the underworld. Cronus than married Rhea, but one day he became very paranoid and felt that his kids would destroy him. Each time Rhea had a child Cronus would eat it, but only one out of the six survived which was Zeus. Rhea gave Zeus away to a goat and had the goat raise him. Overtime, Cronus vomitted his kids up and Zeus overthrow him. Finally, Zeus divided the world and put each one of his siblings in charge of something.This story intrest me because it reminds me of serial killers who kill just because they are delusional. Creepy right?

Aphrodite also has an interesting story. She is the Goddess of beauty and the mother of fertility. The woman in this time period worshipped her and brought sacrafices to her tomb because they wanted to be fertal and wanted their child to live pass the age of one. Some things people don't know about Aphrodite is that she is the mother of cupid. The Romans portrayed him as a chubby baby, but in reality he was a handsome man.

Everyone remembers Madusa as a ugly woman with serpants coming out her head, but she was beatiful once upon a time. Aphrodite is the one who made Madusa head that way because she saw her having intercourse with Poseidon, who is Aphrodite sweetheart. Doesn't this story remind you of teenage girls who fight eachother over boys?

Overall, this was the best seminar I was actually excited to be up on a Saturday morning and that is not common in teenagers. Love, Sharqueya Drake.

The Touch of Life

Today I woke up early to attend a seminar with Mrs. Everett, our focus was Roman art. At first I wasn't interested, but as time progressed I started to learn a lot of cool things. For instance, I never knew the difference between a Frescoe and a mosaic, now I do.The Romans had a lot of interesting art that was influenced by the Greeks.

The main thing that opened my eyes and had me amazed was the Sistine Chapel. Most people know that the Sistine Chapel was painted by the wonderful Michalangelo, but they don't know that it took him 4years and 6months to complete it; that's amazing I would have quit after a year.

I find it weird on how everyone seems to remember what Michelangelo painted. They don't know that other painters contributed like Raphael, Bernini and Sandro Botticelli, why don't they get fame as well? Sandro Botticelli created a series of frescoes that was based on the life of Moses. Michelangelo painting was focused on the last judgement.

The reason the Sistine Chapel is so amazing to me is because before Constantine Christianity was banned and Christians often got persecuted, so they did their art in secret. After Christianity was being tolerated a lot of paintings were coming out based on religion which changed the game for art. The Sistine Chapel is the most amazing chapel in the world that is based on Christianity.

The Romans had many other great accomplishments when it comes to architecture. Like the Colosseum,fountains,aquaducts and the Patheon.

I know this has been a long blog and your mouth is dry, so go get some water. As your doing this think of the Romans because they were the first to produce fresh running water for an entire city. Love, Sharqueya Drake.

A Critique of Hell

This Saturday was our second seminar on Roman art history. The entire seminar was mainly a review for me and I was actually surprised that Ms. Everett was able to teach it in just 2 hours instead of 3 hours. The seminar focused on three points’ architecture, paintings/frescoes, and sculptures. We went over a lot of things and since it was review for me I decided to go into depth on a piece of art that caught my eye the most. I actually have had great interest in this piece since last year and it’s something from the famous Renaissance period. No it’s not the Sistine Chapel just a piece of it. That’s right it’s the Last Judgment.

I think it’s very interesting because it’s a depiction of hell like none other. The stereotypical hell that most people think of that is seen on television shows and movies is one of fire and pits of death. It seems that Michelangelo seen hell in a different way. As the painting progresses downward from heaven the piece that depicts hell looks like earth. This makes me think that Michelangelo is implying that hell is on earth. I thought this was also different because it stands out from the other pieces of art from the time period that shows religion being about salvation, and portraits of Jesus, and Saints. This one shows the fall of man and just complete unhappiness.

This painting also brought up more controversy than others from the Renaissance. It showed nudity and “obscenity” in the most important Christian church in the world. It actually was different from the religious art that most people were used to for example Jesus Christ is seen as very muscular and he doesn’t have a beard. Michelangelo also put in a self portrait of his skin. This painting says a lot about the artist and about how some social views on religion as well as art might have changed around that time. I thought it was pretty cool that this painting stood out amongst the other paintings and sculptures from the time period in art history that stands out the most which is the Renaissance. Although I focused on one painting Rome’s history of art is never ending and goes on a much wider spectrum than this piece.

-Tre’von Walker

Beauty Rome’s Mother

Today was a day where there was so much to learn but not enough time. The seminar with Mrs. Everett was a real eye opener. I knew that Romans paid a lot of attention to detail in the arts department but I never knew how much. At the end of the seminar I had no idea how to process the information to share with all of you. However I thought a poem would hopefully convey the information that I learned in an effective way, with flair!

Beauty Rome’s Mother

At the birth of a people when no one was around

Beauty found the helpless child lying on the ground

She taught the child art in its purest form

From sculpting to painting and then building forums

In the child’s early years

When the world was new

The mother taught him religious art

And made old Biblical stories new

Next she moved to architecture

And let the little one run wild

In which he built the Colosseum

The biggest thing in miles

She saw he had a gift

And said to him one day

Build the world a Pantheon

And he simply said okay

As the years went on

And the boy grew into a man

There were four young people

Who became his biggest fan

The mother told her son

To teach them a thing or two

To help them carry on a legacy

Like he would soon have to do

Years have passed and centuries too

But still the son and mother

Are bonded through and through

From:

Valerie Cordier-Rice