Feb 7 Daily

 What is the oldest human-created artifact that has mattered to you? Why/how does it matter? 

The oldest human-created artifact that has mattered to me is a house. There are houses in ancient times for shelter, so these are very important. Even though the houses back then were not as impressive as houses now, they are still houses, and they are still a form of shelter. Without shelter, people even back then would not be able to live. In the cold times, a house brought them warmth. When ancient people were hunting animals, they used their houses as a place to store their buffalo meat and skins. They also used their houses to sleep when their hunt was done. Houses matter for so many reasons. Without a home, you cannot live. A home is your shelter. Where you store your food, where you sleep, where you spend the time with your family. It is very important in order to live life. Houses have grown a bit since ancient times, but it is still a home. A home where you eat your meals, keep your clothes, sleep, spend time with family, and other stuff. A home keeps you alive. Without a home, you would have no money, food, shelter, nothing. You would be left alone on the streets, or back in ancient times, fields. This is why this is my personal old human-created artifact that truly matters a lot to me. 

Feb 8th Daily

Give several examples of monuments in Maryland / DC / PA that might be familiar to folks who live here but which would not be understood by outsiders without an explanation. Please include your own or public domain photos.

There are a lot of monuments, especially in Washington DC, that are familiar to people around here and across that country that understand the significance of some of these buildings. Buildings like the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, U.S. Holocaust Museum, Washington Monument, and so many others. As citizens of the United States, we are aware of all of these people and events that have occurred in the past every bit deserving of a memorial like the ones they received. People in other countries don't know that Martin Luther King Jr. created much needed peace between blacks and whites while dealing with major segregation issues in the late 1950s. People from other countries don't know about the past slavery issues here. They don't know about the past segregation problems. They don't know who found electricity. Most young citizens in the U.S., like me, don't even know about the Korean War.  Just like most citizens of the United States don't know much about the artifacts of a lot of other countries, they don't know much about ours. Citizens of Unites States so VERY well what these monuments are for, but people from other countries would not without an explanation. These are several examples of monuments in DC that we all know of and know their stories, but citizens from other countries don't with help. 

Week 2 Weekly: Essay on Change

Is 'Change' a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

Change can be many things, but it is not necessarily a good or bad thing. Both good and bad things can come out of change, but change is directly the good or bad thing.  In regards to many cases like the origins of art, agricultural revolution, urbanization, and many other areas, the change that happened created a positive impact on the world. There is always at least one good positive thing that comes from change. It might not be the most important thing that turned positive, but an event regarding change usually has a positive point to it. Change can be both a good and a bad thing, but with change, comes positive and negative events that you just have to live through.

There were many positive outcomes that came from changes like origins of art, urbanization, and architecture. These changes in the way the ancient people lived leads to the way we live and act today. Without the ancient architecture that we have found through years of searching and researching, today’s buildings, bridges, homes, anything would be nothing like they are today. Art is also a huge positive outcome that comes through change. Art is such a great culture that most people don’t understand, but it shows you who people truly were back in ancient times even until today. People like to express themselves through forms of art; whether it’s painting, ceramics, theater, literature, or even sketches, people like to tell you who they are through their art. The change and realization of what art truly is changed how we view art forever. Art would not be at its present ways if it wasn’t for changes that were created over time.

The way change becomes positive or negative is due to the progress that the change makes. The progresses of architecture lead it to becoming such a huge part of the world today. Progress leads to fulfillment in the change which sometimes leads to even more change in the long run. Progression from the ancient architecture to today’s buildings is because of the changes that have occurred over a long period of time, changing the ways of building these amazing architectural buildings that have to be created.  Progression leads to such a drastic change on people’s point of views on the topic and how it actually comes about. A great example of this is the progression of theater. Theater started as a few people creating a story and wanting to act it out instead of having to read it. Then, they made a stage and created backgrounds and props. Then, other people wanted to see them, so they started to perform for other people. Next, everyone wants to watch this play, so it goes on Broadway so they can travel all over to show their play. And sometimes, it becomes a movie so people can watch it whenever they want. This progression is so huge. This shows you that over time, so many changes happen to something. Sometimes it might look bad at first but there is always a positive side to a change.

Even though there is a lot of positive that comes from change, there is also some negative that can occur. With events like the agricultural revolution, many cultures and groups of people thought differently about it. Some groups loved the change, other not so much. This is one example of a negative impact that comes from a change. Everyone has their own personal opinion towards everything in life, so some changes can lead to fighting between two groups, or on a larger scale, countries. Fighting can lead to many things also including attacks, wars, and many other personal and national troubles. Everyone has the right to different views and opinions, and they all have the right to speak their mind about their views. These opinions can sometimes lead to much larger problems though. People just need to try to keep positive and believe that something good with come from this.

As you can tell, I personally feel as if change is change, but how you respond to the change and react to it can make it a good or a bad thing. People just need to keep looking on the bright side to see what is in store for them in the future even while going through a negative change. You can change yours and other peoples’ views on a situation based on how you think of it and how you try to react and even change it. It is all up to the people. 

Daily Feb 4th

Partner: Kelly McCloskey 


Dialogue (in English): 

Meredith: Hi Kelly!

Kelly: Hi!

Meredith: What is your favorite hobby?

Kelly: I like to horseback ride and dance!

Meredith: Oh, cool!

Kelly: Yes, what about you?

Meredith: I love to play lacrosse

Kelly: Oh fun!

Meredith: Yeah, gotta go! Bye!

Kelly: Cya!

Dialogue (in New Language): 

Meredith: Ooog!

Kelly: Ooog!

Meredith: Ahhh oye?

Kelly: neigh boom boom boom

Meredith: aye!

Kelly: uhe ahh oo?

Meredith: clunkclunk

Kelly: ahah

Meredith: uhe ooga

Kelly: ooga!

Feb 3rd Daily

Describe the importance of water in the ancient world.

Water, like today, is a necessity for for life. You cannot life live without water to drink, to feed plants, and for many other reasons. It was very important to life in the ancient world because it was the key component to trade and traveling. Living near water would allow you to have fresh water to drink everyday so you can live. Also, the water would allow you to travel through the water and go into areas with a lack of water to trade. If you lived near water, you can bathe regularly in the lake, ocean, river, etc..  In today's times, you can bathe by taking a shower or bath. You can cook things in boiling water boiled from a stove. Water is so important to life today, I can't even imagine how important water was in ancient times.  A huge part of what the ancient people needed water for was agriculture. Farming was very important to this times, like it is now. Farming lead to food and trade, which is how they maintained life back then. Without food and trade, they could not have lived in  ancient times. Especially with out water, everyone in ancient times would die. 

Feb 1st Daily

You accidentally discover an invention that can immediately help millions of people; but only if you act immediately. On the other hand, if you just wait three months, you can secure a patent and get rich. Which do you choose and why? 

If I accidentally discovered an invention that you can immediately help millions of people or if I waited three months so I could get rich, I would choose to help the millions of people. Even though it would be nice to be rich, helping people is much more important. Maybe if I was able to help millions of people with this invention that I discovered I would be considered a hero or something and receive a lot of money from government from the millions of people I was able to help. Then, I would be helping millions of people AND I would be rich. That would be an ideal situation, but even if I didn't get rich because of it, I would still  be helping millions of people in some large and fantastic way, and I would consider myself a hero even if others didn't consider me one! Helping people in a major way, on my opinion, is much more important than becoming rich. It is so selfish to have something that could save and help millions of people, but choose to have a self-gain and help yourself. I would feel so guilty knowing that I could have helped millions of people, but I decided to be selfish and get rich. I would have no respect for myself, and honestly I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Saving people is so much better than becoming rich. 

Feb 2nd Daily

Which do you think is a better roadmap of history artifacts of the humanities or political/military conflicts? Why?

I personally think that the better roadmap of history is artifacts of humanity like music, art, literature, architecture, and many others instead of political conflicts. Yes, politics does influence the government and laws from the past, but artifacts of the humanity is real life people and how they act, which is like 90% of the people. They are the people that do the actual living with culture. They are the ones who make the music, the art, the buildings, the dances, the theatre. They are the real people who live the real lives. The government is just the laws, rules, and a lot of the time, create the fights and wars. The humanity artifacts are the ones that are more important and better to study because those are the beginnings of culture for everyone even to present day. Artifacts on humanity are the things that lead to the finding out the way people acted thousands of years ago, which is much better than political and military conflicts because human behavior is much more important over who had a war when. We could be complete different people today if we didn't have the past cultures from family generation hundreds of years, maybe even thousands of years, ago. So, in my personal opinion, discovering artifacts on humanity is better and more important than political and military conflicts. Humanity today could be completely different if it wasn't for past cultures, music, art, dancing, literature, etc..