Tag: things

US History: The Enlightenment (interesting stuff for sure)

by Elizabeth, posted in History, Interesting stuff, Learn

Quote of AWESOMENESS: “History teaches us the mistakes we are going to make.” – Jean Bodin

Heeeyyyy!

So I guess we’re on a roll with these US History episodes huh.

Awesome, am I right? Heh.

Let us proceed.

Vocabulary & Terminology

Enlighten – to shed light on the truth, free from ignorance

Truth – how things are

Intellect – power of the mind to understand through the use of reason

Reason – to explore the cause & effect of things

Revolution – a dramatic change of practices or beliefs

The Enlightenment: It was from the 1700’s to the early 1800’s in Europe & America that intellectual revolution occurred which was known as the Enlightenment. It was also known to stem from the Scientific Revolution from the 16th & 17th century. 

Age of Reason: The Enlightenment was known as an intellectual movement because it challenged traditional authority, encouraged individualism & ability to think for oneself, proved man’s ability to reason & discover the truth, and they had realized that people’s liberties to be protected by law. (Yo, shout out to all the nonconformists for a good cause back then!)

Founding Fathers: The Enlightenment influences the Founding Fathers and applies ideas to both the revolution and constitution. Who are the Founding Fathers exactly? They led the American Revolution against the United Kingdom. Of all the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin is the most known for his scientific discoveries & inventions: he proved lightning was electricity, and he was a member of the Declaration of Independence Committee. Other notable Founding Fathers:

  • John Adams, member of the DOI committee and first VP
  • Thomas Jefferson, author of DOI, 3rd President
  • George Washington, First President of the United States
  • James Madison, the main author of the Constitution and the 4th President of the United States
  • Thomas Paine, who wrote the “Common Sense”

___Important Peeps Profiles___

John Locke:

Image result for john locke

– “What worries you, masters you.”

  • English philosopher
  • Expressed the idea that people are born with “natural rights” which includes the right to life, liberty, and property
  • Lock believes that people have the right to change or overthrow a government that does not protect these natural rights

Baron de Montesquieu:

– “To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.”

  • French writer and philosopher 
  • Argued for separation of powers within the government 
  • He believed that each branch should serve as a check on the other branches power 
  • This was to ensure that one person or branch doesn’t have all the power

Jean Rousseau:

– “What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?“

  • French philosopher
  • Believed that people must give up some liberty in exchange for the protection of others by the government (a.k.a social contract)
  • In exchange for this, he expected the government to give something in return and must govern according to the people (consent of the governed)
  • This is a democracy btw

Cesare Beccaria:

– “It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.”

  • Italian philosopher
  • Promoted new ideas about the justice system
  • Argues that people accused of crimes had certain rights, and he advocated abolishing torture

Voltaire:

– “I might disagree with your opinion, but I am willing to give my life for your right to express it.”

  • French philosopher
  • Published more than 70 books! (that’s a lot….. I KNOW)
  • Believed in the freedom of speech & expression

Enlightenment in the USA: The constitution is based around the idea of democracy & the idea that the power to makes laws should be in the hands of the people. The idea of separation of powers was used by the United States when drafting the new constitution (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches). It is guaranteed in the U.S. Bill of Rights 1st Amendment that people have the right to freedom of speech & press. Another thing the Bill of Rights includes is that torture was outlawed by the 8th amendment. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence drawing on the philosophy of natural rights and states that all men have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Stay awesome & positive peeps! ✌️ 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria 

Book Review: Things Fall Apart

by Elizabeth, posted in Book Review

The book, Things Fall Apart, is written by Chinua Achebe who was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He actually considered this book as one of his greatest works. And, in 2007, he won the Man Booker international prize.

Things Fall Apart has a slow tempo at the start of the book and mainly explains the culture of the people of the tribe, located in an Ibo village and other tribes in Nigeria. The story circulates around a specific family but mainly on one man known as, Okonkwo. In the book, Okonkwo is known widely through his village as a ferocious warrior who seems to have no weaknesses and has a short temper with unsuccessful people, specifically pointing to his father, Unoka, who passed away as lazy, improvident, and hugely in debt with every neighbor. Okonkwo highly despised his father. Although, he had a tough time growing up and went through hardships that could “had been enough to break the heart of a lion”, Okonkwo was able to strive. He won fame as greatest wrestler throughout the nine villages, he was a wealthy farmer with two full barns of yam, he married his third wife, he has taken two titles, shown great prowess in two inter-tribal wars, and was one of the greatest men during his time.

The book has shown a different perspective on life and different type of people and their cultures. As the story ventures on, Okonkwo faces two main situations: first, he had to return to his motherland in Mbanta for seven years because he committed a crime categorized as female as his crime had been inadvertent. Then, the second thing he encountered was that a group of missionaries have come to their village and started spreading a new religion and faith, Christianity. The missionaries successfully set up a church located in the forest which is known to the village as their “Evil Forest”. 

In the end, the tribe starts to fall apart and more people join Christianity. Okonkwo then loses his hope in having his tribe back to the way it was at the beginning. He stops fighting against the missionaries and, unfortunately, this great warrior, took his own life. At the start, Okonkwo believed that since their tribe was full of strong warriors they would survive and keep their culture together, but no matter how strong he thought they were, they still broke apart.

Yours truly, 

L.O.A.S.H

 

 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria 

 

 

 

Fear? Huh? What’s that?

by Elizabeth, posted in Interesting stuff, Personal Observation & Science

Quote of awesomeness: “The fears we don’t face becomes our LIMITS” ~ Robin Sharma

Fear.

*dramatic music*

We’ve at least experienced countless times throughout our life. Right? I mean, it can come from the smallest of things. Like, that time you checked your bag for your phone and couldn’t find yet it was in your hand or right in front of you the whole time. Or, that time you left the house, locking the door but then you stop in your tracks, eyes widening in horror as you feel uncertain if you brought your house keys out with you. That feeling of fear which drains your face making you look pale as if you’ve seen a ghost. That’s the feeling which most would experience when faced with such circumstances, but is this always a bad thing, is it a good thing? Yes and no. Huh? I know, confusing. But, it’s okay we’ll clear the confusingness in a bit. 

The California Science Museum is a great place which has an area all about what this thing called fear is. Let me tell you what I learned when I visited this (very very very awesome and educational and fun and cool) museum! It seems that in society, the feeling of fear grows stronger as more people get scared or afraid? And, just a simple tweet or news from the media, some politician, famous person, or interest group could easily spread such feeling of fear. However, fear also does have a role in today’s entertainment and an example for this would movies! Yes, people do buy tickets to watch that new scary movie which they would probably regret later on as they leave the theatre on purpose. And, because of how fear grabs our attention even though we might not enjoy it all the time, it helped in forming what shows in movies, television, magazines, books, and even popular novels. This shows how fear and culture have shaped each other.

When faced with a scary or dangerous situation, the three responses which most do are Fight, Flight, and Freeze. Let’s put the three responses to action! Scenario time!!:

One day you find yourself hiking with your friends. It’s a beautiful sunny day and you start wondering why you tried to stay at home earlier as your friends bugged you on coming with them. You and your friends are having an awesome time as you lead the way going back home. Suddenly, in the corner of your eye, you spot a spider a few feet in front of you. The thing is you have arachnophobia which is the fear of spiders and this odd feeling in your stomach starts to overcome you and you suddenly:

 

|3 RESPONSES|

|Fight|

Cry? Kick? Scream? 

“SPIDER!!!!!!”, you scream so loud the ground seems to tremble.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you start punching the spider, although that would be quite hard considering the spider would see you coming and try dodging you. Also, considering the arachnophobia, going nearer to the spider or even touching would probably not be the best or first idea to come to mind. To fight could also mean to just cry or scream. This response would be on the more responsive side when faced with a situation such as this. 

|Flight|

run. Run. RUN. RUN!!!! – yours truly, brain

The spider seems to agitate you as you look directly at it. You get this feeling that it the spider is giving you an intense scare which makes your heart skip a beat. Suddenly, the only message your brain fires at you is: run. Run. RUN. RUN!!!! You take one more glance at the hairy creature minding its business (possibly nibbling on a leaf, if spiders even do that), a shiver going down your spine, and you start running as fast as your feet could go. Your friends watch as you zoom past them as if you were the flash. All you want to do is get as far away from the spider. This response, my friend, is the flight (no you don’t actually fly, though that would be cool) when faced with situations like this, you run. 

|Freeze|

don’t. move.

You take one look at the spider. You stop talking and the thoughts of the beautiful sunny day and the joke your friend just made which made you send a thunderous roar of laughter fades away. Your heart is pounding and you just want to scream or run but your feet seem to plant in its place and your mouth stays shut. The fear slows the flow of blood to your skin redirecting it to the skeletal muscles causing the color of your face to be drained, and causing you to look pale. Your eyes are wide open and glued to the spider as if you were anticipating its next moves. Your friends wave in front of your face as sweat drips down your brow. “Don’t. Move.” this is what your brain seems to signal throughout your body as faced with a fearful situation such as this.

|QUESTION|

Which response would you do?

Fear helps us because it keeps us safe. Like, in the movie Inside Out with all the emotions going on in Riley’s head, fear was able to keep her safe a few times. An example would be when she was running but then the fear emotion suddenly stopped her as she came close to a wire, fearing she would have tripped. 

The museum even has like these small hubs with different fears like the fear of sound! I sat down then suddenly this loud sound when off and yes I jolted which was also recorded then showed to me in slow motion. 

Stop laughing, it’s not funny. I mean, fine, just a little. But, anyway the fear is innate as it’s been with us since birth- I read it in the museum so my reaction was completely (very funny actually, my parents and sisters couldn’t stop laughing) normal.

There are so many things to learn about this and interactive fun stuff to do at the California Science Museum. I’m sure you’ll enjoy!

Annoying ways that fear can pop up and just ruin something:

You walk up to the stage encouraged as you start to speak.

You look at the audience and the crowd seems to be astonishingly big. Then your glossophobia jumps in. And, then you end up saying:

“Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your (suddenly your fright comes in and you say)- fears”. Huh? Wasn’t it supposed to be ears? Oh well, must have been that scare.

 

Hope you’re having an awesome day, afternoon or night! Till my next blog, Bye!

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

 

 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria