Cultural Patterns of Western Traditions.
Cultural Patterns of Western Traditions.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first week of Humanities 1: Cultural Patterns of Western Traditions.
Since we are going to be spending the semester together, I thought we should introduce ourselves.
Please tell us your name, why you are taking this class, what you hope to get out of it, and something interesting or important you want your fellow students to know about you.
I’ll start:
I am a proud graduate of LAHC. I started working here in 2005 as the executive assistant to the (then) president of the college, who encouraged me to take classes (I had not earned a college degree yet). I transferred to UCLA in 2009, where I earned by BA in History (summa cum laude, highest honors in history). Then I went to Mount St. Mary’s University, where I earned my MA in Humanities and my MFA in Creative Writing. And now I teach at the same school where I earned my AA! I consider myself a living example of Harbor College’s slogan — Education Changes Everything.
I am fascinated by Egypt — the very first story I ever wrote was in grade school, and it was about an Egyptian princess who wanted to escape life in the palace, so she ran away and sailed up the Nile in a felucca.
I sing Irish and English folksongs, and ride a motorcycle. Sometimes I sing folk songs while riding the motorcycle.
Pleased to meet you.
Your turn!
The second part of this week’s discussion is about Mythology.
We will be studying mythology in this course. Because there isn’t enough of it in the book (at least, not enough of it for me), we’ll be studying it mostly through the additional readings, looking at the mythological creation stories of the cultures and religions we are studying (through chapter 4, Revelations). We will also be comparing cosmologies as we go along.
For this second part of the first week’s discussion, let’s focus on the function of mythology in today’s world. Mythology seems to be experiencing an upsurge in popularity. Think of the books, movies, graphic novels/comic books, video games that you know of that have mythological elements — settings, heroes, gods, demons, magic swords, magic rings, etc.
Name one book, movie, comic book, video game, and choose two of its mythological elements to name and discuss.
Each mythological element you discuss should be at least one paragraph, of at least five sentences.
The purpose of the discussion questions is to replicate the classroom experience, so put your thoughts into your own words. I would prefer you not do any research, but if you do, use an informal citation (author’s name, title, page, website) in parentheses. Failure to do this is plagiarism and will earn 0 points.
For full credit, you must do two posts — one with your own answer, and one in response to a fellow student. When responding, make sure to put the name of the student you’re responding to. Your response should be at least a paragraph, of at least five sentences (a answer of “yes, I agree” won’t cut it.
Jesus M Resonse:
Hello, everyone! My name is Jesus Martinez and I am currently majoring in Humanities. I was one to constantly change a majors however, this just might be my last because I just recently found that getting an AA in Humanities wouldn’t take as long as I thought. I’m done with half of the requirements. If all goes well and if I follow my student planner then I should be done after summer of 2019! It feels great to say that because I’ve always be in and out of college after high school. I hope to get an AA and utilize it by becoming a state park ranger anywhere up north. I hope to move my wife and daughter up north because we (mainly me) are starting to get tired of L.A. So, I imagine myself getting the AA and bounce out of here! Although, things are never as easy as one imagines, but I sure continue to focus on my vision!
For the next part of the assignment I am going to talk about the movie Clash of the Titans. The movie is heavily based on Greek Mythology. It has some of the popular Greek mythology characters that we are all familiar with such as Hades, Zeus, Poseidon, etc. It also has its own imitation of Mt. Olympus. It also consists of demonic armies going up against the main character and Greece. This is a great example of a movie that consists of mythology. Greek Mythology!
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Write a journal entry on the Enuma Elish (found in the Ancient Near Cosmologies file, which is excerpted from Primal Myths by Barbara Sproul); the answer to each question below must be at least 50 words:
•Which part or idea or concept in the reading was most interesting to you? Why?
•Did the reading help you to understand the people, culture and religion of ancient Babylonian Empire? Why? Why not?
•Your general comments about the reading.
•If you could say one thing, or ask one question, of the author (or in this case, the Babylonian culture), what would it be?
The purpose of these journal entries is for you to engage and interact with the readings. I’m interested in your ideas, your reactions, your thoughts. Grading focuses on completeness rather than content (provided you make an effort to answer the questions thoughtfully).
If you quote or paraphrase from any research sources other than the course materials, use an informal citation (title, author, page, website) in parentheses. Failure to do this is plagiarism, and will earn 0 points.
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Write a journal entry for the Egyptian cosmologies (Primal Myths by Barbara Sproul, pgs 1-11); the answer to each question must be at least 50 words:
•Which part or idea or concept in the reading was most interesting to you? Why?
•Did the reading help you to understand the people, culture and religion of ancient Egypt? Why? Why not?
•Your general comments about the reading.
•If you could say one thing, or ask one question, of the author (in this case, the ancient Egyptian peoples), what would it be?
The purpose of these journal entries is for you to engage and interact with the readings. I’m interested in your ideas, your reactions, your thoughts. Grading focuses on completeness rather than content (provided you make an effort to answer the questions thoughtfully).
If you quote or paraphrase from any research sources other than the course materials, use an informal citation (title, author, page, website) in parentheses. Failure to do this is plagiarism, and will earn 0 points.
