Growth Mindset - Meme Galore - Week 2

Image from Automotivator

For this assignment I created a MEME about growth mindset. On the image I wrote. I know I am not the best, but I am still learning. It is a picture of a puppy bulldog... My favorite animal! I think the idea of this meme is particularly powerful for people in grade school, but is also highly relevant to people in college and outside of school in the work place. Day in and day out we see people with amazing talents and abilities, but I often find myself forgetting that it probably took them many years of hard work and practice to get there. I think young school kids in elementary school up to high school should be continually reminded that no you are not the best, but guess what? No one started out that way! You become the best by working and working hard. As I discussed in my first Growth mindset post. The problem right now is that we are not encouraging students to understand that we cannot judge ourselves based on others around us. Everyone has their own way of learning and their own pace to do it. I wish we could reform public schooling and have a more individualistic approach to learning. These kids are not machines, they are individuals that need individual attention and learning options. The Growth Mindset project seems to be all about this learning style. If I could say something to kids that were going through school right now I would tell them... “I know it sucks, but just keep trying. Challenge yourself everyday and you will make it!”

Reading Diary B: Public Domain Ramayana

Public Domain Ramayana: Table of Contents

I am going to try a new style of writing while reading the stories. Instead of summing up just a couple of stories I am going to sum them all up. It will make the stories make more sense when I go back for notes.

22. Bharata performs funeral rites for his father. While both Rama and his other brother are still exiled. Bharata cannot go seek his brother until this is done.
23. Rama is found by Bharata in Chitrakuta.
24. Bharata is unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade Rama to come home. Instead Bharata takes Rama sandals to represent Rama while he is gone. The sandals are able to represent Rama because they have touched his feet. In the end Bharata decides not to return to the kingdom and to wait for Rama to return too.
25. Rama and Sita and Lakshmana visit the sages Atri. Sita tells the sage’s wife her life story. The wife of sage gave blessings to Rama and Sita and Lakshmana.
26. Sita was abducted by Viradha, a crazy demon!, and Rama and Lakshmana go to battle with it. Viradha is actually a gandharva called Tumburu.
28. A rakshasha, Shurpanakha, falls in love with Rama. Rama does not share the same feelings Shurpanakha feels towards him. Rama tells her his wife is Sita! Rama then tells Shurpanakha to hit up his brother Lakshman because he has no wife... Win Win?
29. Shurpanakha is upset about the rejection she faced from Rama. She is so madden that she and her brother attack Rama and the gang. Rama was able to push the attackers back.
30. Again Shurpanakha and her brother attack Rama and again the hero defeats them. To end it Rama shot Khara with a blazing arrow of death! Sita was pleased by her husband.
32. The story changes pace. Maricha gave advice to Ravana who was plotting to abduct Sita. Maricha’s advice was to not mess with Rama. Maricha agreed to help Ravana kidnap Sita. Maricha was transformed into a golden deer and roamed the woods near Rama, waiting to be seen by Sita.

33. Rama, Sita and the Golden Deer

33. Sita sees the deer and of course wants it. So, she send her husband to retrieve it. Rama left Site with Lakshmana.
34. The sneaky sneak golden deer. It turns out the Maricha is not only able to shape shift, but he is also able to imitate the voice of Rama! How devastating for Sita. When Maricha returns to where Sita is he cries out for help. Sita wants Lakshaman to go help Rama, but Lakshamana tells Sita is is a trick of demons.
35. Sita and Maricha are both convincing enough to persuade Lakshaman to leave Sita’s side. When he does Ravana changes into a sage to get close to Sita. Ravana eventually sized Sita and carried her away :-(
36. Ravana captured Sita and they flew away in a car. Sita is smart and drops her jewelry as they fly away so that Rama may follow them. Brahma foresees the death of Ravana and rejoices because his plan to have Rama kill Ravana is coming to light!
37. Ravana was to force Sita to have sex with him, but because of a curse he cannot. So now he must convince Sita to have sexual intercourse, but she refuses thinking of the good time between her and Rama.
38. Rama finally finds out that Sita is gone. Lakshamana and Rama return to the hut and are told by Jatayu what happened.
40. Rama learn more about Sita from a Rakshasha. They head to Sugriva where they find a hermitagee. A woman named Shabari has been told a long time ago that Rama would come to her. The place was caught in a time warp, The woman ask Rama to preform funeral rites and burn her to flames, now that her task is complete.

Week 2 Review

For this weeks review I chose to read the course announcement for Friday, August 28th

Friday is my favorite day and I am happy that we all made it through the first week of classes. I chose to do this course announcement because it featured a quote by Dr. Seuss. He is literally one of my favorite authors ever. “Oh the places you’ll go” is my favorite story by Dr. Seuss. Below is a burning man video where they had participants read the story out loud! It is a lot of fun!!! :-)

Youtube: Oh, the Places You’ll Go

In addition to Dr. Seuss I like the Indian Words in English post. I learned that bangle meaning ring-bracket or anklet comes from the Hindi word meaning glass bracelet. I love Indian culture and clothing is one aspect that makes that is especially intriguing to me, especially wedding attire! 

Storybook Topics - Week 2

I am really in live with the idea of doing something with Karma. I love this topic in Indian culture and it is so unique to me that I think it would be a mistake to choose a different topic. So I definitely want to start here. For my storybook favorites I read the Karma Times, which I enjoyed very much. A second topic I would like to incorporate is Reincarnation! I also find this topic very interesting. Again I read the storybook titled Reincarnation in Indian Epics, and I thoroughly enjoyed the storybook.

I am very interested in attempting to ties in various social media platforms, even if they are just for fun, into my storybook project. My thought is one page could be twitter, one Instagram or Snapchat, one Facebook, and one a blog. Maybe these different social media accounts could have the same user “Karma” or Rama!

Topics:

#1 - Karma’s Social Media Adventure
In this topic I would like to explore some events where Karma came into play for India Epic characters. I know Karma as a “you get what you give” thing, but I want to learn more about it. My question is can I turn any story from the Ramayana or Comics or other readings into a storybook story... can I simply inject Karma into the story even if it was not an original part of the story? If so, I think it will make my storybooks funnier, but not as adhering to the original story. You can see from above that i have already looked into previous storybook project about Karma and I think they are really fun! I think in my mind this is the project I really want to do, so I hope it can work out, but I think I can make it work.

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/pde-ramayana-dasharathas-karma.html

#2 - Rama’s Tweets from Ramayana
For this topic I would like to set up a twitter or other social media for Rama as the posting entity. I think it would be interesting to read his thoughts in a tweet about his adventures in the Ramayana. For week 2 readings I read the Ramayana Public Domain version and I really enjoyed the readings. For this project I would like to pull from multiple versions of the Ramayana, but I would want to follow a story. I want to storybook to be a cohesive overall story about Ramayana, this may include leaving less significant parts out?!? I’m not sure. It would be fun to have other characters tweeting like Rama’s wife and his father.

#3 - This is getting hard ha ha. Reincarnations of ...
For this topic I would like to talk about the reincarnations of a character from the stories from Ramayana... probably Rama. Again using the social media aspect I think it would be exciting to have the character talk about their experience being reincarnated. I am not sure how I would do this project, but I love the subject of reincarnation. This would definitely require some outside reading to better understand reincarnation.

#4 - Comic Books
I really like the new addition of the comic books and I would like to add them into a storybook project, however I am a little lost in thought about how to do that... Do you have any suggestions? I may hop over to the library and just check them out for some inspiration. I think it would be fun to use the stories from the comic books. I wonder if they are set up in an unusual way with their own particular speech use and images? Maybe for comics I could compare Gods/ Goddesses of India!

James: the Unfortunate Sewer Creature - Storytelling Week 2

Rama Fights Maricha and Subahu

James lived alone in the repugnant sewers beneath London. His face was scarred by a lifetime of acne and his heart was scarred by a lifetime of sadness. His Monday started out like every other day he had experienced for the last twelve years... alone. James lived on the outcast of society and longed for a sense of belonging and fitting in. When he felt particularly lost he would look through grated sewer drains at candy shops, while children filled their pockets with sweets. He would also watch old man Bentley as he mowed his lawn every Sunday morning. James had never caused harm to anyone, in fact he had never touched a human before. 

One day while traveling his sewer James herd someone’s footsteps grow closer and closer until they stopped just around the corner. The footsteps were small and steady. It had been twelve years since he had met someone and he was a bit scared! A plump little girl in a pink outfit appeared behind the corner. Upon seeing James she immediately pulled out her magical pepper spray and began to assault James with her weapon. With eyes burning James frightfully ran away from the monster that had entered his sewer. The plump little girl followed closely using her magnified death screams to pierce James’s ears.

James ran as fast as he could down the hollowed sewer lines, but blinded and deaf he tripped over a boulder and was killed instantly when he ran into the hard concrete wall. The little girl returned to the surface to be rewarded by the community for her defeat of the scary monster that lurked in the sewers.

Author’s Note:
This week I chose to write in a style of storytelling that allowed me to reverse the roles of the characters in the original story. I also chose to keep some characteristics from the original story that I thought would help connect the stories. My main goal for this story was to make the character roles reversed so the character they was perceived as evil or bad, would in reality be a genuinely good character, even though his appearance may suggest otherwise. The original story is about two princes that go into a forest and kill a witch. The brothers are then reward for their actions with magical weapons that they latter use to kill more witches. I changed the story by making the witch character “James” a morally good character and undeserving of death. However, the ending for both the witches and James were the same. For this storytelling post I chose to use the image posted with the original story I read. It not only depicts the actions of Rama, but it is also really well illustrated to the ‘bad’ witches. Even though my story is different from the original and reverses the rolls of the characters I think the image help illustrate that 'the other’ is almost always viewed in a negative light, usually without given a chance to show humanity.

Bibliography
Donald A. Mackenzie, Thataka, 1913.

Reading Diary A: Public Domain Ramayana

Public Domain Ramayana: Table of Contents

For the next two weeks I am going to be reading the Public Domain Version of Ramayana.

Dasharatha’s Sons

Dasharatha was sad because he did not have any children between his three wives. He preformed a horse sacrifice to the gods so that he may have a son. The horse, accompanied with a ‘spiritual leader’ were let loose on the last month of the calendar to roam for a year. The sacrifice ceremony took place near a river and many elite attended. There were twenty-one sacrificial posts set up for the other animals beside the horse. The ‘chief queen’ killed the horse with a short sword/ blade while the spiritual leaders chanted a sacred utterance. The wives of Maharajah sat beside the horse’s body... an important part of the ritual. During the ritual pieces of flesh were offered to the sacred fire pits. Dasharatha gave gifts to the brahmins. The gods gave him four sons.

Dasharatha’s Aswamedha 

Thataka

The two princes were on their way to battle led by a sage. They traveled through a terrible forrest that which lived a rakshasa named Thataka. Rama, the beautiful prince, challenged her to battle and she threw boulders at the princes. The princes did not want to kill her because she was female. She turned invisible and they then tried to kill her. They succeed. Rama was rewarded with celestial weapons. The weapons said they were Ramas servants.

Rama Goes into Exile

Rama went to his wife and said he must leave without her. Sita said a wife must accompany him to the forrest. She would not be happy without him. If he leaves her then she will die. Rama thought of the harshness of the forrest, heat, cold, hunger, etc. He would not allow sita to come with him. Again she said she wanted to go with him, and she refused to be separated with him. Lakshmana, Rama’s brother, now also wanted to go with Rama. Rama consented to them coming with him. Maharajah wanted to send food and treasure with Rama, but he refused to take them. Sita was appalled by having to now wear common clothes, when she was used to wearing fine clothing.

Tech Tip: Blogger Template

Howdy All:

Today I decided to do the Tech Tip on Blogger Templates. I have already messed around with the blogger templates before, but today I finally decided on a design for my blog. I chose a golden yellow wheat background. It reminds me a lot of my home town in Kansas where we had many thousands of miles of beautiful rolling golden wheat, among other things. I hope you find this background to be as comforting as I do! I’m excited to see everyone else’s blogging templates as this class really begins.

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

Hello Everyone! 

I just learned how to add a weather widget to my new blog! Now y’all will know how crazy hot it is here in Norman any time you would like. In case you were wondering I hate the heat! I would much rather live in on an iceberg than on a beach. Weather plays a large decision into many factors of my life including where I want to live and study. My perfect weather is partially sunny skies and maybe some morning rain; it sounds depressing to some, but I enjoy the rainy days... 

What is your favorite weather?

Water Animated

Week 1 Review: Getting Started Early!

I have begun this review earlier than I anticipated meaning that there is only one current course announcement posted August 22nd. This course announcement packed in a lot of information about getting started early for the course, which I was excited about doing! I hope everyone has had the opportunity to get started earlier on this course than normal. Lat year, when I took Myth and Folk I started and ended the course early! this became a major help when my final exams came around. I would encourage anyone enrolled in these courses this semester (or any semester) to start early! It will really help! I am excited to see what other students start posting about in Week 2 when we really start reading these epics!

Course Announcement August 22nd, 2015

Famous Last Words: Week 1

Monday marks the beginning of a new semester, my last Fall semester in my undergraduate career. It is a little bittersweet as I begin my senior year. There are of course things I wish I had done differently... tried a little harder here, had a little more fun there. In the end I am okay with the decisions I have made and the path I am headed down. I feel pretty lucky at this point in time. I am confident about my career decision and I have a plan for the future. I know there are a lot of young people who don’t have a clue where they are going, and that is a frightening prospect. 

This semester is going to be very interesting. It is one of the first semesters in my academic life that I was able to almost fully choose my coursework. I am taking classes I will enjoy instead of force fed general education required courses. Of course, I am very excited for Indian Epics. As an anthropologist I get infatuated with cultures and being able to dive into one in such a way as this course allows is really exciting. In addition to Indian Epics I am also enrolled in a Women Gender Studies course called LGBTQ Movements. I am excited to start this course and I am super ecstatic that the University offers a course like this. I am also taking two anthropology courses including the Anthropology Capstone course and Archaeology of North America. I am both excited and nervous for these courses, but we will see how this course-load progresses throughout the semester.

Since this is the first week of this course I have not yet had time to really delve into any reading. However, I am excited about what I have seen so far. We discussed growth mindset and its benefits and even though I was skeptical about weather this type of learning system would work in our current education system I was very excited about the idea. This week I was also able to look back at previous semester’s students storybook projects. I was not only very impressed with what I saw, but I was also deeply inspired by their work. I am excited to get started on the storybook project for this new semester.

Im looking forward to getting to know new people, new places, new things this semester.

Farewell India - The Taj Mahal

Curation Week 1: Bookmarking... My Life in a Few Clicks

I feel like this assignment is my forte if you will. I have always been very organized about my coursework and in general. I really like using the organization bookmarks found on Macs. It is useful and very therapeutic to put items where they need to be in the book mark categories. Below I have attached an image of my current bookmarks. Indian Epics is a big one on the list because I know that this course will have a lot of links for content. You can also see that I use bookmarks for articles to read, news, education and other things. I find bookmarking to be a really useful way to organize my space online. I’ve also used curation in online sites like tumblr (curator for 5+ years) where I tag images for future reference. I can literally see how I curated the site five years ago and the organization has not changed. It is a great blogging platform... highly recommended.

My Bookmarks (Personal Photo)

Folders, Folders, Folders! 

I would recommend making as many folders as needed to help organize your desktop/ online profiles.I have found this method of folder, sub-folder, sub-sub-folder, etc. to be the absolute best way to organize school and work material. This is somewhat less effect for social media because they use other methods of organizing space. I have previously used twitter, pintrest and others such social media/ blogging platforms, but currently I use instagram, tumblr, Facebook, and some google+. I am interested in re-using pintrest/ twitter to make a curated space for class. I think these spaces would provide an excellent place for student interaction. 

Growth Mindset - Good Idea, but I’m a Skeptic

At first I was a little confused while watching the Ted Talk video about Growth Mindset. Professor Dweck touched on a lot of topics all pertaining to this idea of Growth Mindset, but the shorter video we watched helped me understand what this idea was all about! Growth Mindset, as I understand it, is essentially the idea that when students are making all A’s or really good grades they are not actually learning. Instead Growth Mindsets sees students that are being mentally challenged with concepts in various fields as growing, learning and not just simply already knowing therefor not learning. It is a very simple and very great idea. I just have one problem. The current education system is not set up to measure how much someone learns, but instead it measures if a student has mastered a couple particular concepts. The way testing is set up K-12 I think students are being stunted to not continue to learn past what they are required to do. I really like this idea of a Growth Mindset learning vs. the standard learning system, but I honestly do not see it happening in the near future.

An example of what I mean...
In high school my goals was to get as many A’s as possible because I knew that to get into college I was gonna need A’s and a little luck, and I was out of luck. The question is, how do you get an A in high school? It is pretty simple in the current education system.
Step 1: You a told what to do/ learn
Step 2: You do/learn it
Step 3: You take standardized test with learned material on it
Step 4: You get A or B (hopefully) and then move on to the next required class
The problem is you are not growing very much in the education system. I learn... sure, but I do not learn a lot. In fact, I would argue that in high school I hated learning in the classroom and I learned way more watching Animal Planet or with my mother than I ever did in school, but I cannot blame education for all of that.

If you were a high school student right now and you had the goal to go to college what would you choose... get the A and almost definitely go to college or challenge yourself with difficult courses, make a B or C and maybe go to college. This is similar to the decisions I faced in college and I almost wish I could say I struggled with the decision, but in fact I did not. I chose the route that work best for me to obtain the goals I had. To get into college.

I think Carol Dweck hit the nail on the head at minute 4:13 in her Ted Talk video when she said. “We should praise wisely, not praising intelligence or talent." I can attest that 'in my day a.k.a. not that long ago’ intelligence was praised heavily and this definitely motivated me to become better at learning how to get an A, not learning for the sake of learning.

So in short, I really like this learning system called Growth Mindset. I think it is going to be effective in the future, but it is going to take time... a lot of time by my measure. We need a complete overhaul of the education system and this needs to happen As Soon As Possible!

Sincerely,
Skeptic

Growth Mindset Meme

Storybook Favorites

I decided to stick to Indian Epic storybooks. Since I have had experience making a storybook project already I was looking for titles that were really creative. For the storybook projects I read I was very excited to see some really great ideas about fun and creative ways to make the Indian Epic stories fun! While reading through storybook projects I was also trying to keep in mind how I was going to complete my project for this coming semester. I am very excited to incorporate the new comic books into my storybook project this year and I hope that this is an available option!

Screen Shot of Real housewives of Ramayana by Andy Cohen

The first storybook project I read was titled The Karma Times. The storybook was well set up and also very entertaining. Overall the navigation was very easy. I enjoyed reading the introduction to this storybook project because it was told in the view of Karma. In general I think most people see Karma as a cause and effect type effect and not something that has a personality or human emotions, but this story book project brought Karma to life and made it real. I think this will strengthen my storybook project for a source of ideas and inspiration. 

https://sites.google.com/site/karmaupdates/i-have-no-deadline

The title of this storybook project is Real Housewives of Ramayana! Of course this immediately caught my attention. Growing up I used to sit with my great grandmother and watch television shows like the Bachelor and the Real Housewives of (whatever was on)... this title quickly grab my attention as a very unique way of telling the stories from Ramayana. The author of this storybook project did an excellent job with making the stories from Ramayana very modern sit-com-y. I enjoyed reading through the material! 

https://sites.google.com/site/realhousewivesoframayana/

The last storybook project I am going to discuss is the one I found to be my particular favorite! The modernization and different aspects of this project really had my imagination going for how I would like my storybook project to end up and I think the creator did an excellent job! The creator of this project used social media to make the characters divulge their stories. I found this method of delivery to be particularly interesting and creative. 

https://sites.google.com/site/carmenformans/

Course Content Overview: My Questions & Interest

Where do I start? I am already very impressed by the stories and reading material available to us through the Public Domain and libraries here at OU. I guess I would start this post by explaining my current knowledge about India or more specifically Indian Epics. That is to say I have very little experience or knowledge of India or its cultural history. When I started college I became friends with a girl from India. She is one of the only people I have met from the country and again I had little knowledge before hand. During my freshman year I celebrated with her Diwali, or The Festival of Lights, and Holi, or the Festival of Colors! With my friend from India I have briefly discussed religion, but no much. I have also been exposed to the hindu religion and Indian culture through my current favorite television show Sense8 and one of my favorite movies Slumdog Millionaire. I have also been exposed to the world famous Mumbai (Bombay) film industry, also known inappropriately as “bollywood", through a course I took at the University of Oklahoma called the Anthropology of Media.

It goes without saying that one of the most influential people in the world is from India and is one of my personal heros... Mahatma Gandhi. Ever since I was a child I have looked up to Gandhi as a source of inspiration for everyday life. I have always been interested in his life history.

A short clip from Sense8 showing a scene with a "Bollywood" type dance number

Holi - the Festival of Colors (Wiki Commons)

Diwali - The Festival of Lights (Wiki Commons) 

Mahatma Gandhi (Wiki Commons)

Me, Myself and I... an Introduction to Who I Am: Week 1

Hello,

My name is Christian Allen. I am a Senior at OU majoring in Anthropology and minoring in International Studies. I am specifically interested in Archaeology, (One of the four subfields of Anthropology), of the Pacific NW. I found my passion for Archaeology after taking some anthropology classes on campus. If you haven’t yet taken an Anthropology class I highly recommend it!

I was born in Joplin, MO, but have moved around a lot as a child. Interestingly the hospital I was born in is no longer standing, due to the Joplin tornado of 2011 (It doesn't seem that long ago!) I graduate high school from Broken Arrow High in OK and now live in Norman. I have also lived in Kansas and Arkansas.

I am currently employed at the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey, where I analyze archaeological material from different sites in Oklahoma, and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, where I am an administrative assistant for the staff and employees at the museum.

Do NOT be alarmed if you see two of me walking around campus. I have a twin brother who recently transferred here to the University of Oklahoma from OSU. He is studying Public Affairs and Administration and is working on a career in Emergency Management.

I live with my boyfriend or two years, he's also a student at OU, and we have one dog. He is an English Bulldog named Sargent, or Sarge for short. Below is a picture of him from this morning as he lazily refused to get out of bed. His favorite pass times include playing in kiddy pools, placing your hand in his mouth, and sleeping... a lot. He loves going on long walks and meeting new dogs. He hopes to one day bring about world peace, but for now he is content with his life in Norman.

Sargent, the funny sleeping puppy (Personal Photo)

Our Small Family - - - Boyfriend - Left, Dog - Middle, and Myself - Right (Personal Photo)

Sarge in his Kiddy Pool! (Personal Photo)

Storytelling Week 1: The Boy and The Toy

Timothy was a very young lad and had a fruitful mind. He knew exactly what he wanted and he was very careful about planning out how to get what he wanted. For two whole weeks Timothy had his eye on a brand new toy car that had just come out. During this time he had created a plan to get what he wanted. He asked his mother if he could clean the house for some allowance. She was hesitant at first because the family did not have much money to spare on frivolous items such as toys.

"Why don't you help me set the table, and then go and play with your friends? You don't need a toy to be happy" She said.


“Oh, please mom, the whoooole house,” he begged.

She could not say no to her precious boy and he was soon at work cleaning the house. While his friends played outside he found himself sweeping and mopping, dusting and scrubbing and worst of all changing the cat's litter! All the while he cleaned he could only think about the brand new toy he would get, but first he had to come up with a plan to make enough money for even cleaning the house was not going to be near enough to afford the new toy.

He planned to buy an apple from the grocery store and plant the seeds in the into the garden of his backyard. When his apple tree was grown he would then sell the apples and make a very large profit, enough to buy many toys.


“Soon,” he exclaimed “I will have that toy.”


He was given his allowance, as promised by his mother, and ran as fast as possible to the grocery store. As he walked into the entrance he was stopped by a beautiful gum ball machine. With money in his hand he wasted no time and was soon happily chomping on a bubblegum flavored gum ball. Continuing on his journey to buy an apple his dream of owing this brand new toy was unknowingly cut short when the cashier said, “That will be thirty-eight cents please.” Panicked Timothy had just learnt of his mistake, he had spent all but a nickel of his allowance. With the purchase of the gum ball vanished his apple seed, tree and all hopes of every owning that new car toy.

A Boy with a Hoop (Public Domain Wiki)

Authors Note: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch!
This story was about a milkmaid who planned to use her milk to make butter to sell to then buy eggs and hatch chickens and then sell to buy a dress and look good for potential suitors. Unfortunately for her, the milk spilled and he dreams and plans were washed away and she could no longer find a suitor.


Bibliography:
The Aesop for Children. Aesop. N.d. The Project Gutenberg. Rand McNally & Company, 2 Dec. 2002. Web. 13 Aug. 2014.

North West Pacific & Israel... My Favorite Places

North West Pacific Coast, US: As an Anthropology major in the Archaeology discipline there is a tremendous amount of pressure to try to decide what area of study you want to do before you get to graduate school. Most graduate schools for Archaeology are specialized in two or three areas, so it can be tricky to decide where to go. Last year I fell in love with the area along the NW coast of the US known as the Pacific North West. This December I am applying for some graduate schools in the Pacific NW and I am excited to get started on my next path after undergrad! 

Mt. Rainier from Stevens Canyon Road (louelke)

Tel Aviv & Jerusalem, Israel: This summer I had the opportunity to travel to Israel for an archaeological dig in northern part of Israel known as the Jezreel Valley. While there, I was able to explore the world around me for the first time. I have never had the opportunity to be free and independent like I was in Israel. During my time there I was able to affirm my love for anthropology and archaeology. I spent a lot of my time in my two new favorite cities Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I loved both of these cities for different reasons. Jerusalem is a conservative city with a crazy amount of diversity packed into a seemingly small area. We walked around the Old City and went from the Christian quarter to Jewish quarter to the Muslim and Armenian quarters. Tel Aviv is a modern and more secular city. I made it to Israel in time for Tel Aviv gay pride, the largest gay pride parade in the Middle East and certainly a pride parade the compares in size to New York city’s Pride Parades, in both size and celebration! Tel Aviv is a beach city and makes for a great vacation destination. Both cities are beautiful from top to bottom!

Jerusalem City Streets (Personal Photo)

Jerusalem City (Personal Photo)

Tel Aviv Gay Pride Collage (Personal Photo)

Photo of myself at the Legio Archaeological Dig Site (Personal Photo)

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