Comparing Two Ancient and Powerful Art Forms.

  Ancient Egypt vs Ancient Greek

Ancient Egyptian Art is the various historic art forms of the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD. It is widely recognized around the globe for it’s standardized postures and symbolism in painting sculpture and architect form. Most of the surviving art comes from ancient tombs and monuments and is preserved in museums and historic sites to preserve the beauty and the knowledge of the past. Ancient Egyptian art forms are generally characterized by their heavy use of symbolism, extreme care and detail in god and goddess pieces and their use of art to make the afterlife pleasant.

Another nationally popular and known art form is the art of ancient greece. The particular style has influenced and developed the culture of many other countries sculptures and architecture. This infamous art form inspired millions of European artists and into the 19th century dominated the art styles of the western world. As you can see, art form ancient greece art helped develop much of the art today by inspiring and influencing many artists across the globe, but now the question is, what makes greek art so powerful and widely recognized, what are it’s specific traits. Well ancient greek art is very detailed and anatomically accurate. Greek art consists is known for it’s beautiful architecture which has developed many historic cathedrals and buildings in greece and all over the world for that matter, and stone carvings and sculptures developing the concept and beauty of anatomically correct portraits. Polykleitos, a very famous greek sculptor exercised the concept of sculptures based on natural anatomy. A very famous piece of his that is an early example of classical ancient greek art is the “Spear-Bearer.”

Polykleitos's "Spear-Bearer"

When comparing ancient greece art forms to ancient Egypt’s we see two strong but very different forms of art. Egypt's art being very symbolistic, ritualistically powerful to all the people of egypt, and full of standardized poses expressing and portraying gods and goddesses. Whereas greek art is famous for it’s anatomically accurate sculptures, influence on the renaissance art culture and development, and very detailed and influential architecture that still sculpts most of the world leaving the mark of ancient greek. Ancient art forms and extremely important and commonly studied genres of art because of their astounding influence on modern day art and development of art forms, the powerful role art played in ancient greece and egypt at the time, and the inspiration it sparked in millions of people.

Sub genres of Suicide

Mass Suicide

Suicide is often committed out of despair or some underlying mental disorder but can sometimes be committed due to peer group trends. This type of suicide is done under peer pressure when people kill themselves for the same reason. Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Cult’s, being a group whose beliefs or practices are considered strange, have been known to commit group suicide for different reasons with different beliefs. Some cult groups have committed mass suicides and have various beliefs that their “human” bodies were only vessels meant to help them on their journeys, such as a very popular religious groups called Heaven’s Gate, Order of the Solar Temple, and Peoples Temple. Most of these groups encouraged and praised this type of death as “revolutionary suicide”. Another kind of mass suicide are suicide attacks which are committed for political or military reasons. Mainly demonstrated by terrorists, this type of suicide is considered “honorable” in some societies. One of the biggest suicide attack in history was September 11th (nine eleven) where a series of coordinated suicide plans took place killing over 2,752 victims at the World Trade Center in New York City. Another sub genre of mass suicide is  called pact suicide, a dangerous trend that is most popular in teens. Suicide pacts usually involve small groups of people whose suicidal motivations are intensely personal and  individual or are very ideological. The frightening part about some suicide pacts is that they have been known to set out a domino effect and can even be influenced over the internet. This effect most commonly occurring in teens, happens when a small group of teenagers make a suicide pact for various reasons to kill themselves, and then another group of teenagers will hear about it and follow suit. It creates a domino effect of deaths that is very hard to stop unless you can stop it from the inside. Nowadays more and more people are aware of this domino effect method and have taken precautions to stop other people from making suicide pacts in trends. Mass suicides have been noted all throughout history from the 960 members of the Sicarii Jewish community at Masada, who collectively committed suicide in AD 73, rather than be conquered and enslaved by the Romans, to the Heaven’s Gate cult in 1997 where 39 members committed suicide in order to reach the “next plane of existence” rather than dying with the Earth that they believed was on the brink of extinction in a recycling process. Mass suicide has been influenced by broader cultural views on existential themes such as religion, honor, and the meaning of life. Whether it be mass suicide, pact suicide or mental disorder induced suicides over one million people commit suicide every year.

Vegan for a Week Foods/Planning Project

Vegan for a Week
Veganism- the practice of eliminating the use by human beings of non-human animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from the diet only.
My reasons for being vegan are much more experimental than strictly thought out morals. I have normally been a pescetarian for 2 years which states that I am  "one whose diet includes fish but no meat". I decided to try being vegan for a week to not only prove to myself that I could do it, but also because of the numerous health benefits. Some people think that being vegan is an unhealthy lifestyle, but in actuality it is extremely healthy. The diet of a vegan consists of fresh vegetables and fruit, and consuming soy supplements to replace meat so that they still get the right amount of protein and other nutrients commonly found in the flesh of animals. Soy has all the protein of meat, but none of the artery clogging fats and ridiculous amount of cholesterol. Being a vegan will completely rid your life of virtually all processed food and all the poisons in fast food that were really never meant to be part of your daily intake. 


Since my vegan week began on January 30th, I had to be ready to prepare highly nutricious and protein rich meals that could be fast and easy to make in the mornings for lunch. To base my day on a hearty start each morning, I had to be sure that I was getting all I needed in the morning to power me through the day.
Breakfast
One full orange, freshly squeezed and mixed with fruit juice.
Either a slice of vegan bread, toasted with peanut butter and jam, or a bowl of hemp cereal with organic soy naturally sweetend soy milk.


Lunch on the other hand had to be easy meals that could be made quickly and easily in the morning. All the lunch's I packed had tons of fruit thrown in as well which was probably my favourite part of being vegan.
Lunch
Either:
A bowl of fresh green salad with tomatoes and other vegetables, with some miso gravy as dressing.

Teriyaki stir fry with various peppers, green beans, onions, carrots, and tomatoes, and usually with brown or white rice underneath.
A bowl of either chilli or bean soup with sliced carrots.
A sandwhitch made with vegan bread, margarine, mustard, fake ham substitute, lettuce, tomato, and vegan cheese.
All with an apple, a bell pepper, handful or various nuts and a water bottle.


Dinner is probably the smallest meal of the day for me because at my house dinner time is very late at night. In my opinion there's really no point in eating a huge meal late at night if you're not going to be active that night, because otherwise it's just a whole bunch of fuel going into a body that's just going to sleep rather than using it.
Dinner
Sunday- Fresh bean soup with caeser salad and vegan garlic bread.
Monday- A special marinated tofu dish with salad.
Tuesday- Pasta with tomato sauce and green salad.
Wednesday- Leftover bean soup with caeser salad.
Thursday- Roasted red pepper and spinach panini's.
Friday- Rice noodles and stir fry vegetables in black bean sauce.
Saturday- Chili with fresh green salad.


I have noticed a positive increase in my mood, energy level, and my general appearance. Being vegan for a week has shown me how truly easy it is to live off of a fruit vegetable and soy based diet, and to avoid cravings like chocolate and other animal by products. It has also made me more aware of the many animal by products that are hiding within common meals and snacks that you never would've guessed. In conclusion, I have found many successes in this experiment and may even carry on with this diet for a while to come. I do believe variety is the spice of life, so occasionally a bit of cheese and milk could definitely do me some good, but other than that I will remain on the path of non- processed fresh fruits and vegetable for some time to come. 

Mission Possible

Mission Possible.

Recently I have been volunteering for an organization that promotes the well being of others while creating a memorable connection with people in need. To put it into simpler terms, every Tuesday this organization gets donations of winter clothes, summer clothes, sleeping bags, blankets/sheets, nessecary toiletries, makeup/jewlery and much more that need to be organized. Once the donations are sorted, the doors are opened to people who are in need: (people living on the streets, people living through wellfare, people with mental illnesses and so on and so forth) then they are personally toured around by one of the volunteers so they can essentially shop through our pre-organized donations. This method of working with the people in need, really allows you to connect on a one on one basis while bringing smiles to their faces. So far, I have volunteered two Tuesdays, but from what I have extracted from this experence is a taste of the real world and a step into the lives of struggling people.

Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh

1853, Vincent Van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a preist, Van Gogh was brought up in a structured, religious family that restricted any sort of creative growth. As any priest, he had high expectations for Vincent and being such an emotional person, growing up was very dificult. His childhood was desrcibed to have been gloomy and sterile. In July 1869 at age 16, Vincent’s uncle helped him obtain a position at an Art dealer in The Hague. After training was finished in 1873, he was transferred to work in London. By 20 he was making more money than his father, and at the happiest he had ever been in his life. Shortly after experiencing his first taste of love, a bitter one at that, he became depressed and quickly isolated. His employment was terminated after he became resentful at how art was treated as a commodity.

Still suffering from depression, Theo recomended that Vincent study with Dutch artist Willem Roelofs who realized Vincent’s incredible talent. Despite Van gogh’s aversion to formal schools, Willem recomended he attend the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts. With this amount of support and encouragement, Vincent’s talent flowered as he kept painting and sketching. Some say some of his best work was from 1883-1888 when he was living in Nuenen and Paris. His work was noticed by Paris for the first time as he became increasingly more depressed.

In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Theo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark coloured style and began to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. His nervous and irritable personality made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.

In May of 1890, he seemed better but was still depressed and went to live in Auvers-sure-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr.Gatchet. Unfortuantely July 27, Vincent shot himself with a revolver in the chest. His very last painting was of the field he shot himself in, a very famous painting at that. Vincent Van Gogh killed himself at age 37, after living a very deeply depressive life filled with many mental illnesses. To this day over 150 pschiatrists have attempted to label his mental state and have diagnosed it with a combination of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy and acute intermittent porphyria.

Lord of the Flies Character Essay

The Lord of the Flies

Character essay

Lord of the flies, a thoughtfully pieced together novel that is rich with symbolism, deeply thought out characters and is disturbingly satirical was written by William Golding in the early 1950’s. This book that is now a modern classic is widely introduced to high schools as a meaningful read because of it’s infamous character roles that signify important ideas or themes. The reason why the characters are so compelling to the reader is because they get to witnesses the transformation in the group of young boys who are facing an unstructured situation. Readers can sense the group beginning to question their moral values and battle face to face with the beast within themselves. The main characters in the book are Ralph, Simon and Jack and are all around the age of eleven or thirteen, the eldest of the boys on the island. Ralph, the novel’s main protagonist takes charge when they first arrive on the island by introducing rules and structure to create a productive atmosphere. Simon, a fairly skinny quiet boy, appears to be a very spiritual boy who has a high sense for perception and naturally has good human nature. Whereas Jack the antagonist, one of the eldest boys on the island who was originally an orderly choir boy, faces a reality lacking discipline and will stop at nothing to have complete control. 

Ralph, this novels main protagonist, represents structure and leadership. The first formal introduction of Ralph's true character is when he first blows the conch, a large shell that he uses  to call all the other boys together again after the crash separates them. By doing this the conch shell becomes a very powerful symbol for order and structure as it efficiently governs their meetings; the boy who holds the shell gets to speak. As the civilization’s structure begins to  disintegrate as the novel progresses, so does the conch shells power and influence. Ralph also takes the leadership to introduce the concept of the signal fire, their only hope of being rescued. This is done by assigning the boys fire watching shifts as to keep the fire aglow and opening the window of possibility that a passing ship may notice and come to their rescue. The maintaining of the signal fire basically measures the strength of the civilization on the island. As the boys begin to fall apart and the fire dies down, this symbolizes the efforts of being rescued dying down and the desire to accept savagery life on the island increasing. You may also notice that while Ralph’s concepts of order are slowly eroding away, so is Ralph. The well-being of Ralph symbolizes the wellness of civilization and order on the island, and as Ralph is slowly being outcasted and overruled by Jack, so is the civilization.

Simon, a boy who is described to be a skinny quiet boy with black hair, portrays a very spiritual boy who represents the good nature that lives in a part of all of us. He turns out to have a certain perception that allows him to see things for what they truly are, unlike the rest of the boys. He demonstrates this when he is, for example, fasting in the forest and talks with the dead sows head that is smashed onto a pike. He feels the sows honesty and accepts it exactly as it is, a symbol. When the savages had brutally slaughtered the pig and stuck its dead head onto a pike, they saw it as a gift for the beast to guarantee their safety from it’s wrath, although they are actually making the beast stronger. Simon sees is exactly how it is, staring into the eyes of the dead cow he sees the eyes of the beast, the beast that is inside of all the savages. For this cow does not symbolize their effort to please the “beast”, it symbolizes the beast inside of all the boys that grows stronger as they have accepted savagery into their society. Simon's morality rate is also measured when he is confronted with the dead pilot strangled in a parachute. Once he comes across this so called “beast” all the boys had heard and feared to realize that it was the pilot from the plane, strangled by the ropes of his own parachute, dangling in the wind. He responds to this humanely by freeing the tortured soul from it’s parachute and letting the body properly disintegrate and rest in peace.

In conclusion, Lord of the Flies was an utterly satirical and carefully symbolic novel that should be recommended to anyone who is looking for an intense yet meaningful classic. It is considered a classic because of it’s deeply thought out main characters who portray qualities in all human nature. Ralph, the one who represents structure, leadership and productive societies. Simon, the boy who represents good human nature and being spiritually connected with life. And Jack, one of the most meaningful characters in the novel according to William Golding, the boy who represents the lust for power and savagery. William Golding spotlights Jack and what he represents because of the main theme of the book; Jack’s experience on the island, is what can eventually happen with any or most average people. He has depicted that society has the capability to crumble and devolve without structure. In respects to William Goldings thoughts, I have more faith in humanity that society wouldn’t allow the Jacks of this world, become a dictator. I believe that humanity has more good natured beings that would not be lead by fear and uncertainty, but would trust and follow their morals and values.