History Midterm Terms Review

George Washington: The first public servant of the United States in 1790. He was previously the commander of the Continental Army that fought and won in the War for Independence.

Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father and one of the men responsible for the creation of the U.S. Constitution. Jefferson was also the third public servant in 1800 through 1808.

John Adams: The second public servant of the U.S in the years of 1796 through 1800. He was a federalist whom was a prominent lawyer and well known in Boston.

Mary Wollstonecraft: Women's rights advocate who wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792) arguing that women and men should be as rational human beings.

De Witt Clinton: He was the mayor of New York and supported the construction of the canal; additionally, he was referred to as the "father of the Erie Canal."

John Paul Jones (JPJ): Destroys British navy ships during the War for Independence.

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"The Fighter" (2010)

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Article 9 Response Paper

Daniel Contreras
Professor Osborne
Anthropology
Mon & Wed 4:00-5:30pm
October 26, 2011

Art. 9 "Got Culture?" Response Paper

Societies all around the world contain a culture. Groups within a culture share traditions that are passed along from one generation to the next. Craig Stanford argues in his article titled "Got Culture?" that our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, share culture just as we humans do. However, there are a few who believe that associating animals with culture is nonsensical. Opponents of Stanford's argument stress that culture is exclusive to humans and that animals do not have the capability to hold such significant and "symbolic traditions" (par.2). Extensive research on wild African chimpanzees hints that culture within animals is and has been existent. Various tribes of chimpanzees, separated by geographic locations, were examined and some previously unknown facts emerged. The chimpanzee groups differed in several ways: Each developed their own tools to access food, ways of hunting and dividing prey, and indications on availability to mate.

In one group, the use of stone based tools was commonplace. Meanwhile, in another tribe, wooden tools were preferred over stone tools. The stone tools were used to break open nuts and the wooden tools to quickly collect insects from the large mounds. Interestingly, each tribe stuck to their own tools and different customs not attempting to adapt both. The differences in tools used between chimpanzee tribes is accompanied by the way they share their meals. In one chimpanzee group, only the few that hunt and kill the prey get to eat regardless of any differences between any of the chimpanzees. In contrast, some tribes distribute the food between the friends and relatives of the hunter(s).

Stanford suggests that the definition of culture be modified to include these previously shunned species. However, not all creatures have the appropriate requirements to sustain a culture. Other creatures such as dolphins and whales do not have the abilities to manipulate tools to their advantage because of their lack of "grasping appendages" that allow chimpanzees to use tools (par. 21). Along with these anatomical traits a big brain is also necessary.

After watching most of the Jane Goodall video in class this article made clear sense to me. While reading this article, I was surprised to find how much each group of chimpanzees differs even if they live near each other. Stanford's article is nicely written and I agree with his standpoint that the chimpanzees share culture just humans do within their societies.

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History In The News 10/19 Response Paper

Daniel Contreras
History 117
Monday/Wednesday
12:50 - 2:15 pm
19 October 2011

Rediscovering the Mayans

Members and researchers from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have recently begun to further explore the areas which the Maya used to occupy. As of late, scientists have encountered a question regarding the lifestyle of those Mayans that lived near the sea. Not much is known about these sea thriving people but their trade habits are widely recognized. The sea Mayans flourished for a few hundred years before the Spanish conquest that began the decrease of mesoamaericans. Current researchers are hopeful to discover any remaining materials from these trades such as canoes.

In this course we have discussed various mesoamerican tribes among them the Mayans. This article mentions the crops that the Mayans traded and even a little sentence about Christopher Columbus. It is a modern expedition of a past civilization and

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History In The News 10/19 ARTICLE ONLY

Researchers Explore the Seafaring Culture of the Maya
Published: May 23, 2011 - By History.com Staff

This month, researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are combing the eastern Mexican coast for remnants of the Maya civilization, which once boasted a rich and sophisticated seafaring tradition. The current expedition focuses on the ancient port city of Vista Alegre, located where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Mexico at the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. The remote island site is thought to have been an important harbor and maritime trade stronghold for intermittent periods of time between 800 B.C. and the mid-15th century.

“The maritime Maya have been described much like ancient seagoing Phoenicians,” Dominique Rissolo, one of the expedition’s chief scientists, said in a statement. “Maya trade was far-ranging between the Veracruz coast of modern Mexico and the Gulf of Honduras, with each port a link in a chain connecting people and ideas. Yet there is still much to learn about the extensive history and importance of the maritime Maya and how they adapted to life by the sea.”

Historians believe that Maya sea commerce reached its zenith between 1100 and 1521 A.D., when the Spanish conquered the region and hastened the decline of indigenous Mesoamerican cultures. The Maya traded in a vast array of goods from across Mexico and Central America, including cotton, salt, jade, obsidian, cocoa, tropical bird feathers and slaves, Rissolo said.

Previous expeditions to Vista Alegre in 2005 and 2008 revealed 29 structures, including platforms, mounds, raised causeways and a pyramid within a central plaza that may have been used by lookouts to monitor canoes. Researchers also found a narrow walkway linking the island port to a temple on the mainland.

During the current expedition, the team especially hopes to uncover remains of Maya trading canoes, which Christopher Columbus’ son Ferdinand described in 1502 as fashioned from a single tree trunk and with a structure “not unlike those of Venetian gondolas.” These vessels could carry crews of 25 paddlers along with additional passengers and were piled high with cargo. (It was after capturing one of these boats that Ferdinand and his father puzzled over almond-like beans prized by the Maya and used to make a flavorful drink, becoming the first Europeans to encounter chocolate.)

Accessible only by boat, the secluded Vista Alegre site is frequently battered by tropical storms, offers little drinking water and teems with various jungle- and lagoon-dwelling creatures, including mosquitoes, snakes, spiders and crocodiles. How, then, did the ancient Maya survive in such a hostile environment? The port city had to support not only a permanent population of several hundred people but also passing traders who would paddle up in their canoes, requiring food, water and a place to stay, according to the researchers.

“In addition to understanding the role that Vista Alegre played in facilitating maritime trade and commerce, we also want to understand how the ancient Maya here at Vista Alegre and along this hidden coast transformed and interacted with their maritime landscape,” Rissolo explained in a video podcast earlier this month. “The Maya were primarily agriculturalists; they would tend to live in areas of deeper, fertile soils and access to fresh water. This is a very marginal landscape…so this is a challenge for us to figure out how the Maya were able to endure here for centuries, for millennia.”

Some 500 years after Vista Alegre’s bustling port disappeared, the NOAA-sponsored team has to face the same harsh conditions its early settlers surmounted. “The Maya largely had to live off the land in this remote area where they found and used resources to survive,” said Jeffrey Glover, the expedition’s other chief scientist and an anthropology professor at Georgia State University. “Like them, we have to search for scarce fresh water, but our challenges are more about making the research work in less than optimal conditions. It will involve some good MacGyvering.”





Article Internet URL: http://www.history.com/news/2011/05/23/researchers-explore-the-seafaring-culture-of-the-maya/

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The King's Speech paper

- (I) = Italicize
- Needs cover page

Daniel Contreras
Introduction to Theater
Professor Josten
Reaction/reflection paper
18 October 2011

In director Tom Hooper's film titled The King's Speech(I) there are various themes that are present; however, the one theme that stood out to me was clear: life is much more difficult when one struggles with any type of disability. The director emphasizes the people's dismay by showing the expressions on the faces of Bertie's (famously known as King George VI) wife, his father (King George V), and the archbishop. The camera focus carefully on the actors often depicting a mixture of pity and disappointment; for example, when the Duke of York attempts to publicly speak at the stadium in the beginning of the movie you can feel the tension as if you were in the exact same stadium with the rest of the people. In that scene, the camera angles on the shots of the Duke of York are so compact that it creates a figurative feeling of of gradual suffocation. In fact, the eerie music slowly creeps in and grasps a hold of the situation ridding it of its comfort. In the film, there is another scene where Bertie is arriving by car in a neighborhood filled with posters and flyers that read "God save our king" or "god save the king" revealing the pity and worries the people had toward their new king. A good portion of the film takes place in speech therapist Lionel Logue's office where Bertie and Lionel discuss and disagree on various topics. It goes to show how much more strain is put on people with disabilities since normal people aren't obligated to see a specialist weekly or daily. The setting in Lionel's therapy room feels cold and unpleasant with its fog stained windows and oddly patterned wallpaper reinforcing that this is not a place one would like to be. Life with a disability affects not only Bertie but also everyone around him. Bertie can't even tell a bedtime story to his two younger daughters without stammering in every sentence. While his wife's true intentions of marrying him are uncertain, she does make an effort to stand by his side and looks for someone to help him recover from his impediment. I think the director chose a solid cast for this movie. Colin Firth is a talented actor who previous won

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