#3

I think people wear masks today whether they know it or not for two different reasons. I believe people wear these masks to hide their true appearance or maybe to give the appearance of what they think society wants them to look like. It is sad to see people today walking around in life giving a false appearance of their actions to attempt to conform to societies so called norms. On the extreme end of this matter you have people who act out by dressing a way just to be different from people around them for whatever reason. It is just crazy to me that people can’t just be happy with who they are and be proud to be true to their selves. Hopefully one day they will find that inside they are a great person and have great qualities that should never be covered up.

Art 107 Blog #2

There is no doubt that the Maya people have been subjected to a hard and painful life just in the last thirty years. As stated in the Maya Today website about the daily struggle to live, work, and raise a family with the consent threat of death squads, drug load, war loads, and government.

Rigoberta Menchu stated in her speech that this current time according to the Maya calendar is the “no time”. This time is filled with a high suicide rate for young people and an environment of negativity rather then a positive feeling.

To continue from my VT, I believe that many different people in the world are in similar situations as the Maya people today. Some people could look at this as reason to quite or not try. But I think that challenges like these only create opportunities and those opportunities lead to success for those who put forth the effort. So despite the challenges that these people are facing this is the time for a leader to rise up and help his people create a better life

Lesson 1-Mexico or Guatemala blog

While in the Coast Guard I was able to travel a lot in the Mexico and Central America. One problem was the locations I visited in Mexico seemed to always be tourist destination including; Tijuana, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. These places were great, but I always disappointed that I could not observe and really see and understand the culture of Mexico.

In contrast when I was able to visit Guatemala I went to a little port town on the west coast called Piedras Azules. In this town I was defiantly able to see the cultural without very much US influence on the people. I felt this was a great experience to see the different cultural of this region of the world.

One thing that comes to mind when I think about Mexico is spring break and vacations. I know this is sad and the country has so much rich history and cultural, but to be honest that is not what first comes to mind.

Second and third would be the coffee bean plantation that I visited while I was in Guatemala, just a great experience. This family run operation was at the base of these volcanoes that were still active and we could see the red lava flowing from them at night.