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Hosay
Yearly Hosay is celebrated with a pleothora of activities in Trinadad and other regions where muslim carribean comminities reside, in rememberance of Hussain.
Though and action were brought together in numerous ways in the film Hosay Trinindad. A specific example of this is is the traditional sharing of the bread, called maleta. The traditionally prepared flatbread called, saada roti. The women prepare this flatbread along with their daughters in the kitchen. It is then passed out on the early nights of Hosay to all participating in the labor as well as the festivities. The thought of sharing and wholehearted ness as well as sacrifice is directly connected to the act of sharing the saada roti.
As Bell stated, “ collective beliefs and ideals are simultaneously generated, experienced, and affirmed as real by the community (20). A single specifis example of this is the drumming, tassa that the young men dedicated themselves to perfecting their practice. The ritualistic drumming demonstrates the communities belief in the events they are commemorating. From the selection of materials to the precise weaving technique the drums are treated delicately and as a significant pat of Hussain.
As Wuthnow argues I definitely see ritual elements in almost every aspect of the Hosay celebration. The continuum between instrumental and expressive. Most instrumental activities are necessary yet expressive actions are likely by choice. The precision and dedication put into building the moons is an example of ritual.
*Jae
Add comment December 1, 2011
Dear Anne,
Hip Hop artist Eminem began the saga of “Stan” in hit 2001 single release, The song follows fictitious character, Stan through a murder and his suicide. My favorite artist Lil Wayne has continued the Grammy award winning single with a follow up entitled Dear Anne, which focuses more of the pregnant girlfriend of Stan that he murdered before killing himself.
Debuted on his Latest album the Carter 4, Dean Anne: Stan Part II has a seemingly effortless melody similarly to harmonies heard during mourning scenes within a movie. This immediately takes me to a place of grief and rememberance. The soft tremblings of the piano allow the songs verses to mimic a letter as intended.
Dear Anne Relates to the theory caption of Davies, A Brief History of Death, is numerous ways.
-“. . . Death has long been one of the most powerful of all natural symbols, a medium forever invested with distinctive meaning. (150)”
Lil Wayne takes Anne’s death a a sad tribute because he appreciates the power behind acts of death and what grief truly feels like. The social meaning of both Stan & Anne’s death is even more significant because there are just as many internal circumstances behind their deaths as external.
-“Death rites relate largely to established notions of an afterlife. (57)”
As scantly mentioned in the song’s first verse, Stan truly believes that once he dies he’ll remove the stigma his exsistence has caused and that he’ll be in a better place and by killing his pregnant girlfriend they’ll be present in that place with him.
Beyond its storyline, Dear Anne is truly a wonderful song is coomposition and deeper meaning,
*Jae
Add comment November 17, 2011
My First Pet
The year was 1997 and Christmas was looking extremely bleak as energy costs in my town had risen to a new high. As the oldest of six children in a single-parent household, I knew that we likely wouldn’t get much gifts, if any.
Christmas day had arrived and I was pleasantly surprised, as each of us six kids had at least one present under the tree. Two rips and one tear later I had gotten through the wrapping of my gift. It was Giga Pet! It was all the rave in electronic toys at the time and was developed using relatively new technology. But that wasn’t my concern at all. All I knew is that I had received a Giga Pet and I would never let her go.
My Giga Pet created social Bonds with myself and others because, my sister had received one as well. Me and her played for hours on end together, feeding, clothing, and even disciplining our virtual pets. We honestly treated them as our children and even referred to them as our babies.
My pet seemed to help shape my identity as a care giver, and it helped shaped my idea of self by defining what I should be capable of doing, which is taking care of another individual. As Sutton-Smith suggests in Toys as Culture, looking back my Giga Pet definitely created an expectation to others about how I should and will behave. As the eldest child I had always had a profound responsibility to somewhat assist in taking care of the younger children. My interaction with my Giga Pet just encouraged, in a more fun way the values and actions my parents have always expected of me. As Sutton-Smith stated, “toys are but a part of the message that parents give themselves about their concern for their children’s achievement…. (99)”.
My use of the Giga Pet ultimately confirmed the values that it was supposed to demosnstrate. At such a young age I had not only began to accept my role as an partial caregiver but welcomed it and took pride in my responsibilities. I helped clean up after my siblings, assisted in meal preparations, and organized assembly lines to and from school.
I used my Giga Pet in the way my parents intended me too. And as referred to in line (111), it was a way in which my parents communicated their life values to me. I actually believe this toy was an essential tool in establishing morals and values I still hold close to my heart.
*Jae
Add comment November 10, 2011
Suffering
Armand Nicholi’s discussion question, ” How do we equate an omnipotent, all loving being with what we’ve come to expect and experience in our lives”, definitely hits a nerve for me personally.
I tend to cope with suffering rather hard, because I’m rarely ever, close to never deserving of it. Sometimes I just ball up and cry my eyes out. Other times I distance myself from everyone and everything and just sulk in solitude.
If I were on the panel, I would have answered Nicholi’s question simply. I guess it’s like my Grandma used to say, ” In order to see the rainbow, it first has to rain.” Which I believe is a true saying, because in order for humans to experience joy they must first feel pain. This is likely the design, a higher being had in mind.
Ordinary suffering such as unemployment are trivial in the bigger design of things. Yet exceptional suffering such as the Holocaust certainly makes it harder to reconcile with the idea of God. However it isn’t God that’s causing this suffering, yet it’s other human beings that are treating each other horribly.
Overall one should have faith that their God wouldn’t put them through anything they couldn’t handle.
*Jae
Add comment October 20, 2011
Ground Zero. As I Know It
On Black Friday 2010, I visited the infamous Ground Zero site.
What originally began as just another shopping expenditure ended as a truly unforgetting day to me & my friends. 9/11 definitely went down as one of the biggest tragedies in American history. But its especially significant day to me because as the towers were going down, one of my aunts was nowhere to be found. It was during the beginning of her residency at an NYC hospital and she was commuting nearby.
Fortunately we established contact with her almost two days later – As she had lost her cellphone in all the mayhem on the subway that day.
After visiting almost a dozen stores we were so close by my friend suggested we visit Ground Zero. Upon walking on the site, I felt extremely weird. I mean, it wasn’t like a scene out of a movie or anything, but I truly felt touched. And being more spiritual than religious, I also felt like the souls of those who died that day were still there. This site functions religiously because it allowed me to remember even though I was never there. While discussing Eliade’s relation of religious symbolism at the site I begin to think about how he stated that myth is a technology of memory. Both things that are true and things that are false have essences of rememberance to them.
The Ground Zero memorial is a sacred place to me because, as Shawn Landres and Oren Stier stated it controls the peripheny to nuetralize clamants to the center. This site emphasizes how one nation rose from a tragedy and united, yet ignores the ignorance and discrimination which evoked the events of 9/11.
May EVERYONE we lost that day rest in peace.
*Jae
Add comment October 14, 2011
We Capricorns
LOOk Up At The BirthDay Girl-!
We capricorns are of the best breed. I find my collective identity within my astrological sign to be the most significant.
Being born January 19th didn’t make me the strong, hardworking, & perceptive person I am today but being born strong, hardworking, & perceptive there’s no wonder I’m a Capricorn.
*Jae
Add comment October 5, 2011
WCVM Media
When something is seen as sacred, what does that really even mean? After discussing what both home & sacred places are and should be according to Chidester and Linenthal I’m definetly alot clearer on what it means for a place to be sacred.
A place for me, which is sacred is my former college radio station, WCVM Media. I know its sounds a little weird that instead of home or a temple or something I deem sacred. At this radio station I truly learned what hardwork was. I made friends and built on professional conduct. Though I’m unable to cite any big stars which have risen from this media outlet, I cam say in the near future many of WCVM’s members will make a name for themselves. Never have I seen such an organization do so much with just a little bit.
More than anything else I think its the ritual that took place within WCVM lenda itself to be a sacred place for me. By ritual I mean the repeated meaningful task of beginning excellence and learning. Not one production lab, or radio sessiom passed without me learning something new about myself or media as a whole. Every single day it was demanded of the DJ’s to be ontime, professional, and creative. Before joining WCVM Media as first a DJ and then becoming the Programming Manager I never knew what it was to be the best. The floors of the station’s control may as well be lined with the stuff clouds are made of, by the way I walk on them.
I assert power by identifying this place deeply significant to me. I assert power by continuing to build on the skills this place has taught me. But more than anything else I assert power by truly being myself – something WCVM Media taught me.
-Jae
Add comment September 23, 2011
F O O D
When reflecting upon my food identity, I’m a little apprehensive to even began the discussion. For the past five years I’ve had an intense relation with food, deriving from my weight battles. During my freshmen year in college, instead of the typical freshmen 15, it was more like 58.5. It was shameful to even go back home during breaks and seeing the reaction on everyone’s face. After two school years of this excessive weight gain I came home for summer vacation decided that enough was enough. I picked up a membership at the YMCA gym, and bought a bottle of weight loss pills.
Perhaps my most drastic decision was to began a religious fast. I had a friend who was Muslim and very familiar with fasting having practiced it during her childhood. The fast lasted almost 2 weeks. After about 2 days I no longer experienced any slight pains or cramps. As a motivator during the entire
fast I positioned my in the mental state of a Muslim.
And constantly thinking to myself of what it would meam if I actually were muslim. The fast sucessfully
launched my weightloss and in total I lost over 60
pounds.
I seriously have a love hate relationship with food. Being West Indian, my family highly values time spent both cooking and eating with those you care about. I love oxtails and curried goat. It does kind of sound weird when you think about it, but they are my favorite. I guess you can say in my culture we find those animals which we consume to be those most sacred of all. My family can also do almost any thing you can imagine with a pig. From the ears to the tail we can cook and eat all. My family and all other Jamaicans I know are Christian, most Christians dont mind pork at all.
I have to admit once I dropped all the weight I was a little ashamed of my having to resort to fasting and in my head pretending to be Muslim. I don’t really understand their practices, so I should have respected them a little more.
Food really does affect my relationship with others. Some of my best memories are at the dinner table. I bond and laugh over plates and drinks. Alot of times I find myself eating even when Im not hungry for fear if isolation during family meals or dinner outing with friends.
Honestly I envy the religions and culture that respect food enough not to overconsume.
*Jae
Add comment September 16, 2011
Just Call Me Jae
As You’ve Likely Read In The Title, I Like For Everyone To Call Me Jae. my Real Name’s Jessica, But That Doesn’t Exactly Scream Originality If You Know What i Mean.
I’ve Been Attending College For A Few Years, Yet This Is My First Semester At A Jesuit School. I’ve Never Been A Particularly Religious Person. I’m Definitely Spiritual Though. To Believe That We Humans Are The Only Intellectual Beings In This Entire Universe Seems Somewhat Ignorant to Me.
But What Do I Know? A Young College Student, Who Has Yet To Join The Real World, How Much Could I Really Know? I Think To be A Religious Person Isn’t Just To Worship, Pray, And Constantly Discuss Your Faith To The Point Of Annoyance By Others. There Are Those Who Say Little To Nothing About Their Faith But Are Just As Firm Believers As Those Previously Discussed.
2Pac Seems To Be A Name That Jumps To Mind As A Perfect Example. As Hip Hop Rap Legend Before His Death, His Lyrics And Songs Mentioned His Christian Faith In The Same Verse As Tales Of His Life As A Past Drug Dealer And Felon.
Not At All Did It make Him A Hypocrite, But Yet More Approachable and Real Than A Common Church Pastor.
Religion Relates To Parts Of My Life In Numerous Ways. Not Specifically How I travel, Or Work, Or Even Eat. But More My Morals And How i Work Towards My Goals And Ambitions. Religion Really Doesn’t influence my Entertainment Or Even The friends I Have.
But As I Sit here Discussing What Religion Doesn’t Influence In My Life, A Lot More Of My Life’s Decisions Would Be Way Easier If I Was More Religious. There Definitely Would Be Way Less Wiggle Room For The Way I’m Conducting My Life Right Now. I Have A Friend Who Says Religion Is Just A Cop Out For Many Who Are Afraid To Make Their Own Decisions And Choices. But He’s Come What A Conspiracist Anyways.
I Personally Believe There Is A Higher Power, Someplace, Somewhere. Its Different For Everyone, And I Believe That I’m Good At Respecting That. The Different Spheres of Life Are All Interconnected With One’s Religion And faith.
*Jae
Add comment September 9, 2011
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1 comment September 2, 2011
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