BYE Middle Ages...sorta

Humanitarians,

Today was a WHIRLWIND after a three-day weekend, which I hope was FABULOUS for you! Before we head into what we did today, lets talk a bit about MLK. Y'all are going to read his letter from a Birmingham Jail as juniors in AMSTUD, but heck, nothing bad will come of reading it twice. It is STUNNING and so moving! Find the whole thing here. I also recommend y'all read some of his less well-known speeches and writing - not only does he write about the racial injustice we are familiar with, he also tackles economic injustice and the US's role in worldwide wars. Stanford has an entire part of their site dedicated to all his speeches and papers - check it out!

Today we did a lot of things!

1. SAQ! - a change! You may only revise EACH SAQ ONE time, so if you are unsure why you didn't do well, see your teacher before you make changes! We are here to help you!

2. Medieval Faire - we finished signing up today - the sign up sheets are online, so if for some reason you forget what you signed up for, check it. REMEMBER that the group stuff is only worth 30 pts - the other 70 pts is individual, so don't forget to do that!

3. Decline of Middle Ages activity - we looked at some documents regarding the end of the middle ages politically (think: end of feudalism/manorialism/the power of the Catholic Church). We will make sure that we are all on the same page regarding the decline of the middle ages on Thursday - if you have NOTHING down from class today (I am shooting you so much side eye right now), then log onto the site and get it together! 

wrong schism, but lolz

THIS DAY IN HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY JANUARY 17!

• 1706: Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston
• 
• 
• 1893: Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii was forced to abdicate by a group of US planters and businessmen.
• 
• 1977: Gary Gilmore became the first person executed in the US since the death penalty was reintroduced. 
• 
• 1991: Operation Desert Storm was launched against Iraq. This is why Mrs. Garafola moved from Saudi Arabia to the US! My town was on the Saudi/Kuwaiti border and we got rogue missile fire and were evacuated by the United States. 
• 
• 1998: President William Clinton became the first sitting US president to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil suit.



but we really all want to remember him as the guy who likes ballons this much 

Finally - social media to follow. I already told my classes, BUT DID YOU KNOW the TSA has a instagram? 10/10 would recommend - it's basically pictures of the ridiculous things people try to bring on airplanes. LOLZ for days.  Check it here!

SERIOUSLY WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?!?!

Have a wonderful Tuesday! Tacos!!

- cbg 

It's called a lance, hello...

Don't know that reference? Watch A Knight's Tale; I don't care how inaccurate it is!

Speaking of knights and lances, today in class we introduced...wait for it...the MEDIEVAL FAIRE! You will be donning your best Medieval garb, drawing your swords, and dueling it out between your period's two houses to defend your Lord or Lady. This is one of my fondest memories from two years ago, and I'm so excited to see what you guys come up with. We started the process of signing up today, so if you missed class, be sure to let your teacher know so they can get you signed up! We'll also have a work day in a couple of weeks before the actual fair. Let the jousting and awkward medieval dancing begin! Here's a scene from A Knight's Tale to get you inspired, although I'm pretty sure the Dark Ages didn't have fist bumping or David Bowie.

Sorry today's blog is a little shorter...case of the Fridays, but have an AMAZING three day weekend! Hope you get to rest and stuff your face with pancakes and get a head start on your timeline and reading! :)

Joyous thursday, mine own l'rds and ladies!

Calling all serfs, knights, peasants, and kings! Today we continued discussing feudalism in all its fascinating complexities. 

As long as it isn't Comic Sans Serf

From the church and kings heading  down to vassals and knights and way down to serfs. The feudal system worked because of the idea of feudal obligations, or basically "I'm a lord with knights and land and I'll protect you, but then you in return give me something...your labor". This system of relationship and obligations could get more complicated than a high school relationship, as seen below: 

Theory

Reality 

Tomorrow we are going to continue the Middle Ages by letting you be in it... time to introduce our next big project, THE MEDIEVAL FAIRE. Get excited people! 

Because you have a three day weekend (PTL), it's a great opportunity to go exploring and take care of a Humanities Experience! Here are some cool things going on this weekend:

• This weekend, the greatest movie theater in the DFW, Alamo Drafthouse, is doing a showing of Casablanca. Any movie list from any person at any time will ALWAYS put Casablanca on their greatest movies of all time; if you've ever heard anyone say, "Here's looking at you, kid...", you can thank Casablanca and its star Humphrey Bogart. So, go see it in theaters (NOT ON YOUR COUCH), and eat some popcorn. 
• The DMA has an exhibit entitled "Art and Nature in the Middle Ages". It was so gracious of them to coordinate their art series with our class.
• "Clay Between Two Seas" is an incredible exhibit showing now at the Crow Museum; it blends ceramics from several different cultures, including Mexico and Iraq. 

Speaking of Alamo Drafthouse, some of you guys heard us talking with Mr. Stanton about how they show silly little videos and films before the movie starts, specifically one with Star Wars. Yoda made us LOL, especially "That log had a chiiild".

Happy Thursday, lords and ladies!

They call it the Dark Ages because it was always knight...

Serfs, knights, and lords, lend me your ears!

Today, we jumped into the world of the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages, Medieval Times (just kidding, that's a restaurant), whatever you want to call it. The world of the Middle Ages is more complex than we know of it as first. We tend to simplify it into glamorous knights and castles, but it's so much more than that. Specifically today we began discussing the feudal system, defined as a complex system of customs, rights, and obligations that bound warriors (lords, knights, vassals) to each other and peasants to them due to Western Europe's political fragmentation. In very very simple terms, the people in power rely on the labor and manpower of the peasants, and the peasants rely on the lords and their knights for protection. Tomorrow we'll talk more about serfdom and feudal obligations!

This makes me giggle.

The life of a Jasper teacher.

In other updates, our CE for you to read to-knight (sorry, I had to) is over President Obama's Farewell Address from last night. Did you watch it? If not, here's the full speech; I would really encourage you to at least watch some of it. Whether you love Obama or not, he is an incredibly gifted orator; I'm not ashamed to say I ugly-cried when he talked about Michelle, his girls, and his "brother" Joe Biden.

My book of the week is one that has topped almost all of 2016's Best Books of the Year lists, so I figured I would give it a try. Commonwealth is a story that weaves the story of two families together over years of loss, pain, and tension.  Let's just say, I devoured this book in less than twenty-four hours, the kind of reading experience where I kind of wanted to be left alone until I was done (which is really hard for me). My favorite kind of books are those with rich characters, and this book is no exception.

So check it out, and don't forget to be working on Chapter 19 and your timeline. Happy Wednesday friends!  *Credit to Hayden Smith for the puns.

Middle schoolers are so small!

Hey friends, your Humanities teachers weren't here yesterday, which I hope you noticed, because we were visiting Rice and Robinson to convince the 8th graders to join Humanities next year. Ms. Siddiqui and I hit up Robinson; we gathered that they are adorable and small and ask great questions.

While we were off in pre-pubescent land, you guys were practicing DBQ skillz. We're spot checking these to get a feel for how you guys are doing, but please let us know if you're struggling with HIPPO-ing or synthesis or any other writing skill. We want to know if you're having a hard time so we can help!

Show me the money, Jerry!

Today, we assigned your Medieval Timeline, which is due next Wednesday, and did a short activity over Manorialism. Manorialism is so much more than simply the manor itself; it's an economic system which relies on these self-sufficient manors. They have everything they need as part of the system, so nobody needs to run to MedievalMart to get food. Crops are grown by farmers, religious leaders live on the land, so on and so on. The system also demonstrates how Europe is decentralized.

In other news, the Globes were this weekend. If you didn't get a chance to watch them, La La Land swept the awards completely, winning every single award that they were nominated for (because it's amazing and deserves every single one of those awards). Emma Stone just wins at life in general; did you see her amazingly relatable and awkward hug moment?! She's my spirit animal. 

We've totally all done this.

Here's a full list of winners AND the best-dressed list . My vote is Emma Stone. Again, she wins at life.

Hope you have a WONDERFUL, sunshine-filled Tuesday!

-Virdin out.

Churchy, church, church... how'd we get a church?

I can't exactly pinpoint why, but I love this SO MUCH. 

So, have you got that whole Trinity thing down? Good!

Wow! Today we dove into some pretty heady stuff, huh? Lots and lots to think about. Remember our central goals:

1. How did the institution of the Catholic Church come about?
2. How did it justify its authority? 
3. What institutional ideas are present that are going to allow the Church almost unquestioned authority over the lives of Europeans? 
4. How might the values endorsed by the Church influence the day to day lives of Europeans?

As we alluded to in class, and you'll see in your reading, the Church will dominate every aspect of the lives of Europeans throughout the Post-Classical Age and even further into history. Sophomores should remember that even as we begin to get stronger and stronger political authority in Europe, those leaders will struggle against the power of the Church. And, all of that power can be summed up in the following picture: 

Hate the sin, but love the sinner.

As we venture further in the Middle Ages, we will be discussing some not-so-nice things that are done by the Church. Remember, this is the human institution of the Church we're talking about - not the Christian religion. Human institutions are filled with... well... humans. And, humans can be a little messed up and not always make the best decisions. If history teaches us nothing, it teaches us this fact. 

Want to learn more? 

I happen to find religious history pretty darn fascinating. You may not feel the same, and that's okay. But, if you do like this sort of thing and want to learn a bit more. may I direct you towards a fantastic source. There is a great PBS Frontline series titled From Jesus to Christ. It traces the earliest history of the Christian church. You can actually watch the whole thing here. 

Soundtrack of the Week

What did you think of my Bruno Mars/Morris Day and the Time comparison? Do you hear what I hear? Maybe... maybe not. Well, let us venture on nonetheless. 

No other musical genre dominates popular music these days more than EDM. Once a totally marginalized musical style that people thought was nonsense; it is pretty much all that you hear nowadays (with a little 21 Pilots thrown in for the illusion of variety). Whether you want to be or not, I know you are all familiar with this hit song from Calvin Harris and Rihanna:

It's like there's a Federal law demanding that we listen to this song at least 10 times a day. 

EDM music working its way from odd novelty to market crushing behemoth starts with pretty much one song - Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer's hit song from 1978, "I Feel Love." This is one of the first pop songs ever created with entirely electronic instruments. Moroder is a god to all the big EDM DJ's and producers working today, and Donna Summer redefined what a female vocalist could be. Take a listen to this classic song and see if you can hear where Calvin and Ri-Ri get their groove. Here is "I Feel Love" by Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer:

New Year... New You!

Tony Robbins wants you to be your best self!

Welcome to the New Year... better than the old year!

So, how was your first day back? Did you have to crawl to the bus due to your total lack of energy? Don't worry; you'll get your "school stamina" back soon. Hopefully...

This is totally Siddiqui. 

In all sincerity, we do hope that you had some good times over the break and got to live a bit of life on your terms; some napping here... some Netflix there... a little video game marathon over there. You know, quality time!

Today we did spend time doing some self-reflection. We hope that you took the process seriously. If not, then do some on your own terms. But, please do spend time thinking about how to be successful here at Jasper. It sounds corny, but you need to be INTENTIONAL about things. 

You could with this idea too. Whatever.

We have the tools and we have the talent!

As you saw in class today, everything is loaded up on the website for you. We've got reading guides, calendars, map checks, Words for Nerds... everything!

Get your new, spiffy 2017 planner and GET AFTER IT! 

Remember, your map check is this Thursday. Your first reading, chapter 16, is due next Wednesday (1/11). 

Soundtrack of the Week

I spent some time over the holiday break watching some documentaries on the history of popular music and recorded music in general. It put me in an analytical mood, so I thought I'd spend some time this week comparing some current hits with music that, I believe, influenced the current stuff. Maybe you agree; maybe you disagree. Either way, I'd love to hear from you. 

First up we have a great song from Bruno Mars, "24K Magic". (this is a clean version if you're nervous)

Now, if you don't like this song, you are either a total musical elitist or just maybe a jerk. This is pop music at its finest. Plus, I consider Mars a complete entertainer in the mold of some of the greats like James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Prince. It is obvious that those entertainers play a big role in shaping Mars' style and sound. But, I hear and see a similarity with another artist and entertainer. 

In the 1980's, at the height of Prince's popularity and influence, there were some artists that worked with The Purple One. One of my favorites was a group, Morris Day and The Time. They had a few hit songs, but none was bigger than "Jungle Love". This is such a great blend of 80's style with old school funk. Take a look and listen to this video and see if you don't notice some of Mars' modern day funk as well as Mars' understated dance moves that seem a lot like Morris Day. In the video, you'll see some clips from Prince's movie Purple Rain. Really, just focus on the performance sections. Here is Morris Day and The Time with "Jungle Love".