Carlo Williams

This week has been good. I was exploring various videos and graphics from this past week and I one video that Professor Laura Gibbs shared for the class caught my eye. The video features Elizabeth Acevedo called, " Afro Latina. " I can semi-relate to this video when she talks about her experience through her spoken word. I say semi-relate because as an male I do not fully understand the issues she as an Afro-Latina has faced. Watching her video makes me want to learn more about my heritage. My mother is an immigrant from Mexico and my father is a black American. When my mother married a black man, my family from Mexico looked down upon my father just because of the color of his skin. My mother also faced issues involving her accent. My mothers first language is Spanish and her English is excellent. Although she sometimes struggles with some words in English she can speak fluently. However, she has told me people sometimes still look and act down upon her because they hear her...

For Week 5 I decided I wanted to start reading the other graphic book called, "Ravana: Roar of the Demon King" by Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia. I loved reading the graphic novel involving Sita, so I thought I would really enjoy the novel with Ravana. So far I have only read the first half of the novel, up to where Ravana is planning on conquering the heavens. Ravana sure is ambitious, and I believe that will be his downfall. By reading this graphic novel I really got to better understand who his main siblings are. I liked learning about Vibhishana, Meenakshi, and Kumbhakarana. The surroundings and people influenced Ravana to become who he is. One things is true Ravana is ambitious, but he does put the well-being of his own people first, for the most part. However, his lust for beautiful women does take over, and he even rapes a family members wife, which has consequences for him. Ravana is a complex character, who had the potential to be someone good, but lets others thoughts fue...

Week 5 has been a success for me. This week has gone by great for me so far. I read the graphic novel, "Sita: Daughter of the Earth". It was by far my favorite story I have read for this class so far. I can not recommend the graphic novel enough for those who are looking for additional readings. The graphic novel was beautiful and portrayed the story of Sita from a different perspective. I am excited to start reading the Mahabharata. A friend told me that it was more emotional to him compared to the Sita and it actually made him cry, so I am interested to find out more about the Mahabharata. In addition, this past week has been good. I have pretty much been working and going to school. Preparing for Valentine's day was hectic. There were so many pre-orders to do at my work for Valentines day because everyone wants strawberries that day. However, the week has finally slowed down and now we are pretty much restocking and catching up. I am also excited for this coming week...

The first topic I wanted to look at was Sita . I read a graphic about Sita being the Daughter of the Earth. I thought it would be interesting to see what other links are related with Sita. I found an interesting link involving the trial by ordeal. Sita had undergone a trial by ordeal by proving her virtue to Rama. I thought it was interesting there was a trial by ordeal link in Wikipedia.  Then I decided to click on the Middle Ages . Trial by ordeals were common during the Middle ages. However, trials by ordeal have been started becoming less uncommon going into the Late Middle Ages.  I lastly decided to choose the First Crusade . The First Crusade was an event that took place during the Middle Ages. I thought I would click on it because I am taking a class called the Crusades and we just learned about the First Crusade. It is interesting that I am able to go from Sita to the First Crusade.                    ...

I read a New York Times article called, "A n Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep," by Jane E. Brody. I thought the article was informative, it not only brought up scientific details as to how it affects students but gave plenty of examples as well. Sleep is valuable for everyone, even college students. It is difficult to go to bed at the same time everyday. My ideal goal was to go to bed by 11am everyday even on weekends, but sometimes I have friends that want to hangout even later than that because people are different schedules and availabilities, so it is difficult getting to bed early enough everyday. I am a morning person, so I need to make sure I go to bed early enough, so I get the proper amount of sleep because I like to wake up around 6 or 7am. I did drop one or two extracurriculars this year to focus on my studies more and get more sleep. My goal is to go to bed everyday by 11pm latest.                       ...

My motto I created on Cheezburger These words are important to me because many times we find ourselves constantly moving around not taking time to view our surroundings and just relax. I think it is important to take some time out of one's week to just relax and chill. 

Etymology of February. Source: Google  I never used the etymology tool before on Google, I thought that was really cool! I got addicted and looked up words such as epics, inferno, and even February. I had no idea February came from the Latin word februa which was part of a purification feast. This is such a useful tool that peaks my curiosity! 

Many centuries ago, there existed a young woman by the name of Sita. Her parents asked the gods for a child, and the gods blessed them with her. She was found within the Earth, and her parents knew from the moment they saw her, that she would be a blessing. As Sita grew older she constantly hung around her sister, Umila, and her cousins. When she became of age to marry, her father began looking for a suitable man for her. A young man by the name of Rama was perfect for Sita. He was strong and wise beyond his years. Thus, Sita and Rama became married. However, due to the selfishness of Queen Kaikeyi, Rama was forced to go into the wilderness for 14 years, due to a promise his father made with Queen Keikeyi. Therefore, Sita sacrificed her comfort and went into the wilderness with Rama, for she wanted to remain with her husband. Lakshmana, Rama's younger brother joined both, for he supported Rama, Within the wilderness, they encountered many challenges, yet they were able to ...

Reading the second half of "Sita: The Daughter of the Earth", by Saraswati Nagpal was very interesting. The visuals were incredible and through the visuals I was able to get a sense of emotion the characters were feeling. For example, Shurpanakha was angered that neither Rama nor Lakshmana would marry her; and through the visual I was able to tell she was extremely angered. I could see her eyes grew sharp along with her nails, waiting to lay harm on Sita for being married to Rama. Another interesting aspect to this story is that when Rama was introduced to his two twin sons, Sita was then called back by the Earth, for she was no longer to be a mortal queen, but rather will remain forever the daughter of the Earth.                                                                       A picture of Rama, Sita, an...

The graphic novel, "Sita: Daughter of the Earth" , written by Saraswati Nagpal   has been really interesting to read. One of the aspects of the graphic novel that stood out to me were the graphics or the artwork. The artwork was beautiful and I felt fully immersed into the story of the Ramayana through the eyes of Sita. There are certain aspects of the life of Sita that I did not realize took place within the Ramayana. For example, I did not realize her sister, Urmila, and her cousins, Mandavi and Shrutakriti, married the brothers of Rama. Furthermore, I was not sure if within the Ramayana, Sita was able to pick up the bow. I knew Rama could, but within the graphic novel Sita could as well. I have only read the beginning half of the graphic novel, but I believe that Sita is going to be portrayed as more heroine figure within the graphic novel. What is great about this graphic novel is that the artwork tells a majority of the story. We have words in the bubble that provide us...