For todays blog post i read about gender roles. Gender roles impose a variety of different life styles upon the men and the woman who live in that culture. The U.S has experienced great changes and revising of its traditional gender roles in the last generation. The changes in gender roles that have taken past in the last generation have affected are homes, style of living, workplace, school and all Americans to some extent. One of the causes in the changes in are gender roles is from the increased number of woman in are workplaces. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics men make up 45 percent of the nations work force while woman make up 47 percent.  With the increased population of working woman old attitudes and behaviors have had to change.  Men and woman are more aware of sexual harassment. Companies are also now experimenting with policy's that are family friendly such as flex time, job sharing, and on site child care. All policies that will now benefit both men and woman. Although woman will still sometimes get paid far less than a man for doing the exact same work, gender roles have still greatly changed in the past 20 years and will continue on changing today. Gender roles relates to the text we read a few weak ago " Nectar and a Sieve". Gender roles plays a part in the novel Nectar and a Sieve through out the whole book for example most woman in the novel stayed at home and attended the house and children while the men made most of the income. Boys are also much more wanted and important to give birth to as apossed to girls who u have to maintain and take care of and pay for their dowry which is very expensive when it is time to marry. These are some ways gender roles played a part in the novel we read " Nectar And A Sieve".

http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html

Branson, Jeannie. "Gender Roles". Net Industries . 3/22/09

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A text about religion that i read tonight was on Christianity. " Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship, it moved to Greece to become a philosophy, It moved to Italy and became an institution, It moved to Europe and became a culture, It came to America and became an enterprise", This is a quote by Sam Pascoe. This quote shows that you can really make what you want out of religion as long as it means something to you. Many Christians believe that a christian is a follower of Jesus, but truly there is no wrong or right way to define a christian. There are about 1500 types of Christian faith groups in North America that promote many conflicting and different beliefs. But that doesn't mean there aren't very many similarities between them all. All Christians fallow the teachings of and about Jesus Christ of Nazareth. They also further believe in god who is the second person in the trinity. The trinity within Christianity consists of the father the son and the holy spirit. They are three separate persons who all eternal, who all from a single unified deity. Most Christians believe that Jesus coexisted with god before the creation of earth. Many progressive Christians believe that the the miracles of Jesus such as walking on water, Resurrection, and ascension to heaven are religious myths but i personally think otherwise.

http://www.theschoolsunited.com/community/christiansch/files/50/19/lg_Christianity101.jpg



http://www.religioustolerance.org/aboutus.htm

People of the Religious Tolerance Organization, "Religious Tolerance". The Religious Tolerance organization. 3/22/09 .

A text about a national holiday i read was on St Patrick's day. St Patrick's day is the feast day which annually celebrates St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick's day is celebrated worldwide by Irish people and increasingly by many poeple that aren't even Irish. The celebrations for St. Patrick's day is generally themed around all things green and Irish. It is a National holiday in the Country of Ireland. People celebrate the holiday by wearing green, eating Irish food, and attending parades and parties. The largest St. Patrick's day parade is held in New York city and is attended by over 2 million people. As well as being a celebration of Irish Culture it is a christian festival celebrated in the catholic church. The say always falls in the season of lent. Irish American immigrants brought the holiday to the U.S. The New York St. Patrick's day parade has become the largest St. Patrick's day parade in the world. Over 150,000 people participate in the parade which includes bands, firefighters, police officers, military groups, immigrant societies and other cultural clubs.

 

St. Patrick's Day LLC, "History Of St. Patrick's Day". St. Patrick's Day Endeavors. 3/22/09 .

http://stpatricksday.com/about.shtml

A Text on a global Issue that i read about was poverty. Almost half of the world which over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. Nearly 1 billion people entered the 20th century not  knowing how to read and spell their own. A majority of the worlds people and nations live in poverty. The reason for this is not because they are stupid or have made poor decisions, they were born into it. When you are born into poverty you automatically lose the privilleges of having acces to health, education and many other services. Problems of hunger and malnutrition and disease effect the poorest in society and have little representation or voice in public or political debates making it even more hard to escape poverty. On the other hand the wealthier you are the more say you will have in economic and political parties. The issue of poverty relates to the novel we read " Nectar and a Sieve". Poverty in Nectar and a Sieve was a very big issue for Rukamani and Nathan through out the whole novel.  Nathan's farming always failed so they never had enough food to eat or an income. This also lead Ira to prostitution just so she could put food on the table for the family. This is a perfect example of what poverty can do to a person and a family.

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

Shah, Anup. "Causes Of Poverty". Global Issues. 3/22/09 .

For Today Post about Colonization i read about the colonization of the Americas. The start of the European colonization started all the way back in 1492. The first europeans to reach america were the vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies but there main colony was in Greenland. In 1492 the spanish explorer Christopher Columbus stepped foot on american land while European colonization was at the peak of expanding and colonizing, first through much of the caribbean sea region, and early in the 16th century parts of the mainlands of North and South America. Eventually the entire western Hemisphere was colonized by European Nations. This lead to Great changes in the landscape, population and animal life. In the 19th century alone over 50 million Europeans left Europe for the Americas. This period was known as the Colombian exchange. The Colombian exchange was one of the most significant events in the history of world ecology, agriculture and culture. The Colombian exchange was a widespread exchange of plants, animals, food, human populations, diseases and ideas spread between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. The Colombian exchange greatly affected almost every society on earth, bringing destructive diseases that depopulated many cultures, and also circulated a wide spread variety of new crops and livestock. The colonization of the Americas relates to the book we read in English "Things Fall Apart" . An example is when the Europeans are coming into Okonkwos villages and trying to change their culture and religion. Most of the tribes people convert to the new religion and ways and that just shows evolution and urbanization is a part of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_colonization_of_the_Americas

Deroo, Peter. "European Colonization of the Americas". 3/22/09 .

For todays post about love i read an article about how to love. Love in my opinion is one of the stangest things in the world. It can be one of the greatest things in life and it can also be one of the worst and be very hurtful. There are many different ways a person can define love and many different ways to love someone. Here are some of the general guide lines i read about how to love someone. The first step is you need to say it. When you say the words i love you should carry them with desire to show the person that you truely love them. The second thing you need to do is to love unconditionally. If you cannot love a person without attatching agreement then it is not love at all. The third thing that contributes to how to love someone is to except nothing in return. This means that giving love does not guarantee that you will receive love in return. The last step is to understand that you can easily lose the one you love, and to have a a greater appreciation for what you have. You need to think how lucky you are to have someone that you love and to never make an idol of the person that you love. This will most likely place them under pressure and make them feel uncomfortable and will most likely result in you losing them. These are the general guide lines on how to love someone in a healthy way. There are many types of love. There's a mother son love, a best friend's love, and a romantic love. One last thing you need to consider when it comes to love is you need to learn to accept yourself before you can accept another. If you cannot love your self, how can you love another?

http://www.wikihow.com/Love

Taylor, Keith. "How To Love". WikiHow. 3/22/09 .

For todays post about overcoming odds i read an article about Rap artist Kanye West who overcame the odds of a tragic car accident he got into in 2002. One late night after a late studio recording Kanye was driving home and fell asleep at the wheel and crashed head on into an SUV.  His face was crushed by the steering wheel and broke his jaw in 3 places and was in serious condition. After recovering using music as his medicine he started writing songs that were inspired by his ordeal and other songs about his struggles and his close encounters with death. He recorded his first smash hit Through The Wire while his jaw was still wired shut.  He later quoted " When i had my accident i found out at that moment nothing in life is promised except death, ". " If you have the oppurtunity to play the game of life, you need to appreciate every moment". All these things that kanye is saying relate to Things Fall Apart in a way. For example when Okonkwo faces death many times and learnes from the mistakes and also at the end of the novel when he ends up killing himself because it was the only option he really had left which shows your promised nothing in life but death. Two years after Kanye's car accident he won a Grammy for best rap album and best rap song. Kanye says the car accident caused him to slow down and just really focus on making really good music.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/oprahshow1_ss_20050909

Winfrey, Oprah. "Overcoming The Odds". The Oprah Winfrey Show. 3/22/09 .