Griot Learning

Although the aspect of someone teaching through dancing and singing is actually quite appealing, learning history through the same methods that the Griots used would cause a lot of agony.  As high school students today, we groan about memorizing twenty vocabulary words, their definitions, synonyms, and antonyms.  Griots recited thousands of years of history as taught by those before them.  They would recite this history verbatim.  This would be equivalent to memorizing more than a page of the textbook.  It's simply inefficient and there is nothing to be learned except for the placement of one word after another.
Also, some portions of history are up to interpretation by those who are learning.  Some people will look at Alexander of Macedon and be impressed by his ability to conquer such a large amount of territory; others will look disapprovingly at him for bringing violence throughout a large portion of the world.  It seems that Griots would favor one perspective over another and only tell of that perspective when presenting their history.

Shape of History

When I thought about the cycle of society and how it rises from family to community to cities and then falls, I tried thinking of ways to represent it.  Although not necessarily a conventional diagram, I thought of rainfall and virga (rain that evaporates before it hits the ground). So the initial vapor is the formation of families to communities and so on.  But once it reaches the high point, which in this diagram is the cloud, it falls again.  But they fall to different location before they begin to rise again.  A couple issues I see with this is that there is now where to go once the water reaches the clouds- it is doomed to fall.  This might be representative that we cannot reach further than where we have gotten.  It is also entirely possible that it is completely incorrect.

Semester 1 Essay Reflection

https://docs.google.com/a/bps121.org/spreadsheet/ar?id=tx4w_B3k-Zpwx3pMGBIAZ-Q.13058560154484656329.1007675670144522199&action=1&tile=0&rpert=20&srow=0&erow=44&scol=0&ecol=7&fprt=false&tfe=qc_562&gsessionid=w9RGps5ReDs

Regarding both essays, I struggled to obtain any expanded core points.  This is because I was not able to achieve all 7 points in the basic scoring guide.  In the compare and contrast essays, I repeatedly made errors with the analysis between the two points I was comparing.  Evidence was no problem, and thesis statements yielded me points.  I need more practice with change over time essays before I can make concrete statements, but with the information I have, I can begin focusing on areas on which I need improvement.  I made a stupid error with evidence on my midterm change over time essay by not specifying exactly what I was talking about.  That will receive some of my attention, but looking upon it now, I can see what I did incorrectly.  But once again, the analysis proves to be a weak point in my essays.  Global context may need some attention as well.

Classwork 1/7

Today in class, I helped TJ look for information about the witnesses that he is going to cross-examine.

Defense Work 1/6

Today in class and during break I did research on my character, Boerte. I searched for how she was involved in Genghis Khan's life. I also helped with looking at the definitions and seeing how we could work with them.

Genghis Khan: A Mastermind or a Member of the Loony Bin?

Genghis Khan does have some tendencies to do what people would normally not do.  An example of this would be when Genghis shot an arrow at his half-brother an killing him solely based upon his half-brother stealing on of his fishes.  Despite these abnormal behaviors, I believe that Genghis Khan was a great leader.  One argument made against Genghis Khan's sanity was the fact that he murdered a gigantic number of people.  Other Mongolian leaders are not looked at as being insane, yet they did the same thing on a smaller scale; their lifestyle was based upon raiding others to gain supplies and women.  Other great leaders are not innocent either; they had to have murdered a lot of people as well.  Genghis Khan was not a killing machine either.  He was a compassionate man who tried to rationalize the attacks and slaying of his victims.

Charlemagne's "Capitulary de Villis"

On the basis of the "Capitulary de Villis," how would you characterize the conditions of material life in the Carolingian countryside?

The "Capitulary de Villis" makes the life of ordinary people seem repetitive and tedious.  They work to build up their wealth and resources and maybe earn some extra money, but then they have to keep on giving a portion of their built up resources to their lords.  Food products was one thing that they could perhaps stockpile a small amount of, but, "two-thirds shall be sent each year," to the lords for their own use.  While the peasants were struggling, the lords observed a life filled with much more luxury.  Stewards would take care of the money and the accounts of the livestock and such from each peasant family.  Other stewards would be tasked to prepare grandiose meals for their lord or to clean the house.