Essays on Maya

In the post-9/11 world of espionage, soldiers have been replaced with spies as nationalist heroes – since drones do much of the grunt work now as opposed to reservists, the nebulous War on Terror is fought through intelligence and espionage. At the same time, we take a much more self-reflexive look at our heroes, especially in media, and question whether or not they are truly worth rooting for. These notions of the flawed heroic spy, the one who does what is necessary while putting themselves through misery, is explored in depth in the recent films Casino Royale (2006) and Zero Continue reading...

Maya Angelou

Introduction
In 4th April 1928, Maya was born and named as Marguerite Ann Johnson, a daughter to Vivian Baxter and Bailey Johnson who was a dietitian for the United States Navy. Her year old brother, Bailey was unable to pronounce her name and he usually called her either “my-a-sister” or “my sister.” As a result, the brother contributed to the birth of her new nickname as “Maya.” However, the nickname, Maya, was not recognized by other people until her adulthood, when she converted her real name to Maya Angelou, in 1949, as a professional and stage name.

Thesis: The paper focuses on the life of Maya accompanied by the events that accompanied her during her life.

At the Continue reading...

Introduction

Nature is a matter that is close to human beings’ hearts. This is essentially why there are emerging issues such as Global warming that trend globally. When God created the universe, it was perfect, according to the Bible. The Bible records that human beings valued nature to a great extent. After the curse, however, they had to toil and make a lot of sacrifices; including endangering the environment. There have been a lot of environmental challenges since the beginning and this is essentially why great philosophers such as Karl Marx made constant reference to nature and how human actions Continue reading...

Theoretical Explanations of Two Prominent Pre-Industrial Civilizations: The Mayan Civilization and the Roman Empire from the Lens of Joseph Tainter and Arnold Toynbee

Introduction

Civilizations have characterized much of human history and have laid the groundwork for several innovations on human organization. As humans have learned to congregate in societies, they have developed their respective ways of living based on their understanding on the natural and social environment enveloping them within a given geographical area. Human organization inevitably comes into play, in which positions of authority are recognized and tasked to maintain and improve the political, economic and religious affairs Continue reading...

Temple of Doom presents Chavin's history full of lessons to learn. The video tells how a hierarchy society may experience and maintain low population standards. The results of standing strong by the community virtues may at times bring undesirable consequences to the larger society. The Maya society stands strong by their beliefs and the ultimate honor to the power of the kingship. Although the society and environment are productive enough, biasness and the people's cult is the major destroyer of growth and development hence a better life standard of the people. The ultimate power from the kings holds a Continue reading...

4thMarch 2014

Similarities between Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave
Introduction
Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing” and Solomon Northrup, “Twelve Years a Slave” are two memoirs with similar themes that encompassed their societies. These literally works depicts many life stories in which thematic concerns of religion, racism, chauvinism, education, poverty and seclusion carry an American dream. One quickly notices that they both relate in the way they pass out their different themes especially the theme of religion in this case. Religion is the main concern in Continue reading...

The Mayan apocalyptic predictions of 2012 have long since passed, and civilization has essentially moved on from its portents of doom and gloom. However, with Gregg Braden’s Fractal Time: The Secret of 2012 and a New World Age, elements of self-help spiritualism and pseudo-math are combined to create a work of New Age spiritualism that, while certainly illuminating to the converted, will not successfully convince those looking for philosophies to the universe that require greater rigor. Looking at the book through an air of skepticism, Fractal Time fails to convince, poorly using its own research and loosely connecting Continue reading...

In the article “Dawn of a New Stone Age in Eye Surgery” author Payson Sheets aims at explaining the progress achieved by archaeologists in the quest to study the ancient health. The author believes that, in such studies, these scientists are able to discover a new knowledge or idea, which may be helpful especially in future aspirations. Sheet acknowledges the fact that the presence of both luck and logical inquisitiveness has enabled these experts to come with new or advanced discoveries concerning cultural changes. This implies that material culture has managed to change subsequent to borrowing as well as Continue reading...

Maya Angelou’s recurring line “sings of freedom” tells of how much she wanted to set herself free from the situation she was put into at a very young age. The book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a memoir that talks about Maya Angelou’s tumultuous but sobering experiences in life, told in a straightforward manner without any filter. From an adult person’s point of view, her experience was difficult to bear. She and her brother had to deal with their parents’ divorce, then be shuffled back and forth from her grandmother to her mother, Continue reading...

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Phenomenal Woman is one of the most notable poetic pieces by Maya Angelou that celebrates womanhood and femininity highlighting the qualities necessary for a woman to be termed as phenomenal. In my opinion, Maya Angelou uses the poem to espouse her belief in inner beauty as the key behind what makes a woman be dubbed as phenomenal (Cullum 27). Her poem takes a critical stance at the biased perceptions bestowed on women by the society regarding what beauty is. I believe her work is based on the contemporary’s society obsession with thinness and a pretty face as the Continue reading...

Poems are literary forms that use rhythmic and aesthetic qualities of languages. They often use ambiguity, irony symbolism among other stylistic devices which leave the poem to numerous interpretations. Some poems may be specific to particular cultures, religions or genres. This paper intends to analyze Maya Angelou’s poem “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. The paper shall also highlight the themes addressed in the poems, use of symbolism, and the message of the poem.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography of Maya Angelou that he uses to explore various themes of racism, rape, Continue reading...

The temple is 66 feet or 26 meters. The structure was inaugurated about 9.12.0.0.0 (672 A .D.) and it was complete 9.12.10.0.0 (682 A .D.). The rooftop formerly had a roof comb. 5 Doors lead into the structure. The four docks in the mid have the remainingss from wedged figures. One can perceive Adults that carry a kid. This kid has six toes. One of the limbs appears like a serpent. From this object we know this kid have characteristics commencing from God K´awiil.
No stele is present at Palenque; its past is carved on boards constructed into Continue reading...

The Downfall of the Mayan Civilization: Attempting to solve a riddle

Introduction
Human history has been haunted with one particular question: Why did the Mayan civilization, one of the most powerful empires in the world, with a population of more than 190 million individuals, mysteriously disappear between the 8th and 9th centuries? Though the descendants of the Mayans can still be found across the Central American region, a significant number of urban region in the Yucatan region were transformed from vibrant and strong cities to deserted rubble-strewn areas over a period of 100 years.
Experts and ordinary individuals have offered numerous postulates for the down spiral that buffeted the once Continue reading...

Poetry Comparison – ““Million Man March” by Maya Angelou and “A Farewell to False Love”

Maya Angelou is a 20th century poet who was born in 1928 in the USA, and Sir Walter Raleigh, born in 1552 in England both wrote two poems which are significantly different yet similar in many respects. Maya Angelou speaks strongly about the oppression of a race because the color of their skin makes them from others. It ends on a note of forgetting and forgiving past hurts and to love. Sir Walter Raleigh wishes to forget or to say farewell to the poisonous wrong that was done. He wants to forget that love ever existed. Both poems though Continue reading...

MAYAN ARCHITECTURE: PRE-CLASSICAL PERIOD TO THE FALL

- Introduction
The Maya people were a people who flourished in Meso-America-- notably the Yucatan peninsula-- prior to the arrival of the conquistadors from Europe. The Mayan people were already in decline when the Europeans arrived, but the European invasion of the Meso-Americas was very devastating for what remained of Mayan culture. As a result of this devastation, the art and architecture of the high classical Maya was lost for a number of years; it was swallowed up by the jungle, only to be later reclaimed and studied extensively.
The Maya are often a source of fascination, as the Continue reading...

ROMAN AND MAYAN NUMERATION

Roman numerals were devised by the Roman people to enable counting and perform simple arithmetic calculations in daily life. They used letters to symbolize numbers. With the combination of those letters, any number can be formed.
They are an additive number system. The intermediate values of the numbers are achieved by adding the splitting the given number in terms of the numbers in above table and representing them with alphabets.
Eg.36.
36 can be split as 10+10+10+5+1

So, having the table as reference, it is written as XXXVI.

Similarly, a number 675 can be split as 500+100+50+10+10+5
But the system was Continue reading...

Movie Review: Maya Lin

Maya Lin is an award winning film that explores the artistic work of Lin—a renowned designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The documentary focuses on her other works that have considerably impacted on the community’s social and political aspects. The archived resources such as old clips, interviews and modern footages are used to explain how Lin’s artistic work developed to be an important tool for activism, confront and healing. Lin from her viewpoint explains the implication of her work and attempts to explain to the audience the criteria and motivation behind developing her design and structures.

How Maya Lin’s Design can be Considered Courageous

Continue reading...

Mystery of the Maya civilization

Maya civilization is considered as a mysterious civilization that existed in ancient time. However, the mystery of the Maya is still not undiscovered as no one is sure about the Mayans, their method of living and the the exact reason of the rapid collapse of the Maya civilization. It is believed that the Maya civilization started on 12th August, 3113 B.C., but the archeologists believed that the Maya civilization came into being in 3000 B.C. The Maya civilization, however, disappeared mysteriously in 800 A.D. – 925 A.D. The Mayans lived majorly in the areas, which are now known as Northern Continue reading...

INTELLIGENCE TEST

Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is an intelligent person. Due to the nature of the works that she has done over the years such as award winning poem collections like “I know why the caged birds sing” she portrays that she has the intelligence. The psychometric approach to someone's intelligence is the rank that someone gets on an aptitude test. An aptitude test shows someone's ability to acquire knowledge or skills in the near future. This is not to be confused with achievement test that test skills and knowledge that someone already possesses. On consideration of Maya Angelou achievements, she Continue reading...

Mystery of the Mayan people

Introduction
Among the most indigenous societies of Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) was the Mayan people. It is believed that the earliest Mayan settlement took place around 1800bc. They settled within the expansive Central American geographical blocks but in three separate areas. These included the Southern lowlands in Pete’s district of northern Guatemala, Western Honduras and the northern lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula (Demarest, 2002). The Maya were majorly agriculturist who grew crops such as beans, squash, maize and cassava. In addition to farming, they displayed intriguing cultural traits. The Mayans are famous for their unique works of Continue reading...

Zero Dark Thirty is absolute thrill-ride starting from the very first shot of the movie till the last shot. Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Noel are one of the very few genuine creators in the cinema industry. Hurt Locker was a masterpiece. The amount of research and authenticity that the visionary director dedicated in the creation of this visual ecstasy is unbelievable. The writing of Mark Noel is crisp and flawless. The originality and the depth of the screenplay, story and acting is amazing. The facts and figures are mind-blowing. The skeleton of the movie is comprehension on some basic Continue reading...

Between 1500 and 500 B.C, San Jose Mogote city in the modern day state of Oaxaca was the most important and largest settlement in the region. Oaxaca was inhabited by more tan sixteen subcultures during the pre-colonial period. Each of these subcultures had its customs, language and traditions. However, the Mixtecs and the Zapotecs were the majority and the most sophisticated. The Zapotecs were highly skilled in excavation and astronomy. The Mayan people lived in the tropical lowlands of the modern day Guatemala. The Mayan culture reached the peak of its power and influence around sixth century A.D. The Continue reading...

Basketmaker II And Maya

Introduction
The culture of Southern America and Mexico are highly reliant on the previous existence of various indigenous societies. Some of the most common communities that existed in the region are the Basketmaker II and Mayan. Each of the two groups of people is unique in the practices it executed in its activities.

QUESTION ONE

Introduction
These people are mainly known to have originated from the New Mexico. They were mainly involved I weaving activities that saw them command exclusive respect in the region. The group of people existed between 1500 BC and 500 AD. Also, the people engaged in extensive Continue reading...

Part, one of these essays the focus of my learning discusses the Basketmaker II peoples living in the northern Southwestern United States in what is now the Arizona and Utah connecting borders. In the lecture series presented, number one of this online course, the information discussed how this band of people living around 600 B.C.E. or 2600 years ago came to the area through migration north from Mexico. Their lives as outlined in the lecture, the PDF about Unit 9 of the course, as well as the unit chapter on “The Story of Maize” explained how living in the Continue reading...

Maya Angelou died at the age of 86 on May 28, this year. She left the world with her powerful words that can liberate a person’s mind and soul; words that can agitate people from different race around the globe to act for social change. One of her famous quotations is “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated”. She was the first African-American woman to speak of equality, change, and of freedom through her writings like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I Shall Not Be Moved and many other books, poems, essays Continue reading...

Guatemala

The name Guatemala, signifies "land of forests," was based on one of the Mayan dialects spoken by the native people during the Spanish subjection in 1523. It is employed these days by outsiders as well as by the majority of residents. This paper will analyze the culture, people, food, traditions and rituals of the famous Latin American country “Guatemala”; by considering different stories, recipes, and poems that are reflecting the traditional settings of the Guatemala’s Culture.
In Central America; people are mainly identified by their nicknames, but that is occasionally employed by other people, just like the term " Continue reading...

WATER SUPPLIES IN GUATEMALA

I am going to carry out a project on water supplies in Guatemala. In my project, I will come up with strategies that will help in restoring clean water for these people. For effective results, it’s important to come up with ways that will help in crossing the barriers of language, culture, distrust, and fear so as to establish a healthy rapport with the community on study.
What is water? I will start my project by defining this term. Water is, from academic definition, a gist that is colorless, tasteless and unscented. Through research, Fresh water is depicted Continue reading...

English 1101

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
During my Africa Studies, I found a poem that made me do a research on its author. The poem is called Still I Rise, and it is written by Maya Angelou. This woman turned out to have a complicated life journey, but it didn’t prevent her from making an invaluable contribution to the civil rights’ movement of the African Americans. Marguerite Ann Johnson, which is her real name, was born in 1928, and in her born days, she has published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry. It’ Continue reading...

“The White Man will never be alone” (Chief Seattle 120). Chief Seattle is correct when he says that the White man will never be alone because there will always be other cultures in America. Throughout the ages, America has gone through a lot as a country, events which have torn the nation apart, yet in its own way sown unity within our hearts. The struggles started even as early as the colonization of the Americas, and still continue until this day. Although, there are events in time which helped shaped our country and our people. Over the course of Continue reading...

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Genocide in Guatemala: An Outline
Guatemala is mostly hilly country in Central America. It was erstwhile the heart of the well-known Mayan civilization, which was prevalent till the 10th century AD. When Spanish voyagers invaded Maya in the 16th century, the indigenous Mayans were enslaved in their own native soil. They are even now the most underprivileged majority of the Guatemala's population. Such kinds of inequalities and cruelties of Mayan people led to bitter Civil war in Guatemala which resulted in the mass genocide of this community.
In 1970s, the Maya Continue reading...

Mayan

Mayan
The Mayans is one of the greatest civilizations that ever existed. They have a culture that is rich of traditions. They have knowledge’s like their development of their calendar that was beyond the advancement for their era. The greatest question is what happens to the Mayans?
This is a question that is countless debated among historians, anthropologists, people inserted in Mayan history and other people. This paper will reflect on one theory of the mystery of what happen to the Mayans. It will also reflect evidence to support this theory.
The article from Smithson magazine, “ Secrets of Continue reading...

Maya Angelou "graduation" identity and culture

Maya discusses the stereotypical challenges of society faced by black people in term of their culture and identity. This paper aims to examine the essay of Maya Angelou, which is about graduation identity and culture. The subject that the author has been covered in the essay is the sense of identity and the impact of culture on the development of identity. The occasion of the writing is the graduation of Angelou. During the graduation ceremony, the guest speaker made racial comments, which provoked the author to write the essay. Maya Angelou wrote the essay ‘Graduation’ in order to express Continue reading...

Comparing Environmental Challenges: Maya Civilization vs. Today

The Maya civilization flourished at a time when the world was still rich in natural resources. However, despite being archaeologically and culturally rich, the Maya civilization collapsed. While there are many theories that point out possible reasons of the collapse, the environment played a huge role in the fall down of a once prosperous civilization.
Studies reveal that the Mayans could have probably exploited the environment to the point it could no longer sustain a growing Mayan population. The Mayans depended on agriculture, fishing, and some cattle farming, and naturally, as the area became progressive, the population grew as Continue reading...

Former Guatemalan dictator General Jose Efrain Rios Montt was convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide on May 10, 2013; the crimes he committed were performed against the Mayan-Ixil people and occurred during his leadership from 1982-1983 (Kearns). His offenses, which include rape, murder, and displacement of Mayan-Ixil people from their villages led Judge Jazmin Berrios to hand down an 80-year sentence, with 30 years for his crimes against humanity and 50 years for the genocide (Kearns).
A variety of evidence led a Guatemalan tribunal to conclude that Montt was guilty of these crimes. Ixil people who witnessed and Continue reading...

Person and Place in PreClassic Maya Ritual

Person and Place in PreClassic Maya Ritual
The enigmatic Maya civilization evokes pangs of interest among historians and commoners. The ancient civilization was advanced in several ways and their quintessence is still existent on the heart of the world which is adorned by the massive archeological structures constructed by the Maya people. An insight into their constructions would enable one to decipher the intricacies of their culture. The Maya society and its structure can be comprehended in relation to the artifacts, paintings, monuments, temples and other structures. Excavations in the heartland of the ancient Maya civilization have unearthed such Continue reading...

The article written by Mark Twain is a piece of advice to the youth while the article written by Maya Angelou is a story about her life as a young house help to a white woman. Mark Twain adopted his name from river boat sailors who would utter the words Mark Twain to show that the waters were deep enough for a sheep to pass safely. He was and still remains as one of the most prolific writers in the history of America. Maya Angelou is well known for her memoirs and poetry. She is also a play writer Continue reading...

The Mayan Apocalypse: Assessing the Mystery

The Maya are an ancient civilization that have long captured the attention of popular media. Like the ancient Egyptians, the mysteries surrounding their rites, rituals, and everyday life are compelling. Both civilizations built pyramids in inhospitable places, created writing systems, and were ahead of their times in the realms of art, mathematics, linguistics, trade, and so on. The Maya have been particularly heavily featured in the media recently, as the end of the Mayan calendar was slated to be in December of 2012, causing some speculation about the end of the world. But the interest in the Maya is Continue reading...

Vietnam War Memorial, designed by Maya Lin, is a national memorial established in Washington, D.C to honor U.S soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. The design of the war memorial was unanimously selected by an eight-man jury in May, 1981 from 1,421 entries, but was not established until November, 1982 following criticism of the initial design, which resulted into the addition of The Three Soldiers. The Three Soldiers, designed by sculptor Fredrick Hart, is the bronze statue intended to complement the Vietnam War Memorial and give it a traditional appearance. The Three Soldiers was finally established in Continue reading...

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou Poetry Paper

Introduction
It is clear that Maya Angelou, the author of Still I Rise wrote the poem in an effort to communicate her thoughts to oppressors and perpetrators of racism, sexism, and destructive criticism. It would really be a good idea to know who Maya Angelou is as an author and as a person to understand what some words and passages in her poem Still I Rise are for. Maya Angelou is a Black American poet, dancer, film and television producer, playwright, director, author, professor, actress, and civil rights activist. Her real name is Marguerite Ann Johnson. Most of her Continue reading...

The country of Belize is located in Central America on the Yucatan Peninsula. The coordinates are 17”15’ north of the equator and 88”45’ west of the Prime Meridian. To the east lies the Caribbean Sea where there are 386 km of coastline. Mexico lies to northwest and they share a 250 km border and Guatemala lies to the south-southwest sharing 266 km of land. It is the only country in Central America that has no Pacific coastline. Belize boasts the second largest coral reef, second only to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. The reef is known Continue reading...