The Many Faces of Multiculturalism

Athens
The largest and richest polis on the Greek mainland was Athens, Greece's leading artistic and intellectual center. Many of the most famous Greek writers and sculptors were Athenians, and the city itself was filled with beautiful public buildings, including the world's first theater. Yet the most striking thing about the Athenians was the way they governed themselves. Shortly after the overthrow of the last tyrant in 510 B.C.E., the Athenians invented a new system they called "democracy" ("people power"). Every citizen, whether rich or poor, now had a say in how Athens was run.




Pottery
As a famous artistic center, Athens produced beautiful pottery, which was exported throughout the Greek world. This is an Attic (Athenian) krater, a large vase used for mixing wine and water. It is decorated with a painting of gods in procession on Mount Olympus. This is called "red figure ware," a style invented in Athens.

Sculpture
Sculptures were either carved from marble or cast with molten bronze that was poured into a mold. Bronzes were as common in Athens as statues carved from marble Today, however, they are very rare because often the metal was melted down to be reused.

Terracotta Figures
Terracotta (fired red clay) was used to make small models showing scenes from daily life. These were used as decorations for the home.

Alright, I have time to blog. It feels a bit weird blogging after so much time has passed. I'll try to answer all comments as soon as I can; I've been swamped with work, and all I can say for now is this.........................I have had nothing but GOOD, GRACIOUS, MERCIFUL, JOYFUL BLESSINGS IN MY LIFE these past two weeks. I've had things come true that I didn't think would take place so SOON. I felt like I could do cartwheels and outrun trains! I haven't been this happy since the day I went back to college! It's too much for me to go into now...I'll try to tell you in my next post; I'm only blogging now to let you guys know that I'm alive. Take care.

The pastoral lifestyle of the Vedic age slowly gave way to settled farming and the beginnings of towns and cities. This new era saw the rise of two remarkable preachers, both from noble families, who gave up their possessions to lead lives of spiritualism and simplicity. One was a prince of the Sakya clan called Siddhartha Gautama who left his home and wandered for six years, finally achieving nirvana (enlightenment). He became known as the Buddha, or "Enlightened One. The other was Vardhamana, who was similarly renamed Mahavira ("great hero") and whose followers were known as Jains. Both Buddhists and Jains rejected the rigid caste system of the Aryan Hindus. This, and their belief in nonviolence and social equality, gained them many followers.










The Enlightened One
After 49 days of meditation under a tree at a place that came to be known as Bodh Gaya, Siddhartha attained enlightenment. After this, he was called Buddha, which means "Enlightened One." He spent the remaining 44 years of his long life wandering from place and teaching that suffering is caused by desire, and that only by ending desire can one put an end to suffering. Desire could be conquered by following the "Eightfold Path" of right htought, action, effort, understanding, speech, livelihood, concentration, and contemplation. This golden statue of Buddha meditating was a gift to the Indian people from the spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama.
Sacred Site
The most sacred Buddhist site in India is this large stupa (burial mound) at Sanchi, in central India. It was built in the 3rd centry BC by the great emperor Ashoka, who ruled his empire according to Buddhist principles.

Simple Seekers
Buddhism remained very popular in India for several centuries after Buddha's death because it rejected the costly rituals and caste system practiced by Hindu priests. Buddhist monks were simple seekers, who went door to door with begging bowls for people to fill with food.

Learn and Teach
Many families made sure that their eldest son joined a monastery. Here he would be looked after and taught by monks, and would learn all about the Buddhist way of life. Robes worn by Buddhist monks are usually yellow and orange, the colors of the rising son.

Center of Learning
One of the oldest universities in the world, Nalanda, in eastern India, dates back to the 5th century A.D. It was built on a pilgrimage site visited by Buddha. Monasteries set up by his followers throughout the country became important centers of learning, culture, and art.

Prayer Wheel
Buddhists believe that they gain spiritual merit with each prayer recited. Instead of chanting it out loud, every turn of the special prayer wheel counts as a prayer uttered.

Music is an integral part of all worship and celebration in India. Ancient hymns are chanted at ceremonies. Roadside stalls blare out film songs. Music concerts -- both classical and pop -- attract huge crowds. India's classical music tradition goes back thousands of years. It is divided into two branches: Hindustani classical music in the north, and Carnataka music in the south. Both are based on raaga (melody) and taal (rhythm). There are hundreds of ragas that evoke different moods, seasons, and times of the day. They can be sung as well as played on instruments such as the sitar. Each region also has its own treasury of folk songs. But the most popular songs throughout the country are from Hindi films, and these are hummed and sung by almost everyone.
Sitar Strings
The sitar is the most important instrument in north Indian classical music, and is one of several such stringed instruments. The sitar usually has seven main strings and about a dozen "sympathetic strings" beneath the convex metal frets along the hollow neck. These vibrate spontaneously when the main strings are played, adding a layer of shimmering sound.

Goddess of Music
Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of music and learning is often shown playing the veena.

Women Musicians
Women have always been at the forefront of both north and south Indian music. While women do play instruments, the majority are singers. In classical Indian music, the human voice is superior to instruments.

Perhaps the most spectacular culture in ancient Mexico, the Mayan civilization was the only one in the Americas to develop an original system of writing used to record chronology, astronomy, history, and religion. Their system of mathematics was an achievement unequaled for centuries in Europe. Mayan sculpture and architecture were unmatched in either beauty or dignity.

The Mayan civilization reached its peak about A.D. 200-800. The cities of Palenque and Tikal were the centers of a civilization that numbered over 10 million people. The Mayan culture declined around A.D. 900. Nobody knows why, but it is believed that the Mayans were hit by natural disasters and invaded by hostile groups.

• Hum Tum
• Taxi No. 9211
• Veer Zaara
• Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna
• Om Shanti Om
• Jab We Met
• Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (not really a BW movie, but it's a Desi-themed movie from BBC)
• Guru
  
• Corporate
  

Like other people who speak English, Nigerians have invented local words to describe things from everyday life. These words may be taken directly from English and used differently, or they may be words from one of the local languages that are used along with English. Here are some examples.

• buka ----- a cheap restaurant in a shack
• don  ------  used as the past tense (for example, "I don shop.")
• el hadjis -- rich businessmen
• go -------- used as the future tense (for example, "I go shop.")
• hear ------used to mean "speak" (for example, "I hear Hausa.")
• kiss -------when a car bumps into another car
• moto -----car (taken from "motor")

• I tried installing my McAfee Total Protection 2007 software because the PC came with a 30-day subscription for McAfee. Once installed, the PC began to shut down saying "explorer.exe" had ended right at startup. It did this routine over and over again until I finally had to go into safe mode and uninstall the software from there; I found out that the 2007 version was incompatible with Vista, so I had to upgrade to McAfee Total Protection 2008.
• I have a multi-functioning printer that acts as a scanner, photocopier, fax machine, and printer. The software on the CD was made for XP and earlier versions of Windows; I had to go online and download a driver in order to update the software for the printer so that it could be compatible with Vista. This really isn't a problem, but I'm letting you know that I had to update drivers.
• Now here comes the real test. When I installed my Scarface: the World is Yours game, I got the error message "d3derr" followed by a bunch of other stuff; it turns out that it was related to my graphics card. My graphics card is an Intel card, which is not such a great thing when it comes to playing games that need cards that support certain features. When I put my old GeForce FX (I seriously need a newer version of this card) in, Scarface loaded fine. The problem is that the graphics were severely distorted to the point where the game is unplayable.
  
• I haven't had any lag in the system like other people have complained about because I have 2GB of RAM. So, I'm thankful for that. All in all, Vista isn't that bad. It just needs to hurry up and fix its compatibility bugs. Also, I need to start checking out some new graphics cards.

 Koumbi Sala, one of Ghana's major cities, was a great trading center, and in the twelfth century it was the largest city in western Africa. Merchants imported sheep and cattle, as well as the horses, donkeys, and camels that were so important for transport. (All these animals were first brought from the north, although they were eventually raised in the sub-Saharan Africa.) Robes arrived from Morocco. Red and blue cloth came from Moorish Spain. Cowrie shells, which were used for currency, came from the Indian Ocean. African slave merchants also did a brisk trade.

Ghana was known for its crafts. Blacksmiths forged iron tools and weapons. Jewelers hammered magnificent pieces from gold, silver, and copper. Potters, sandal makers, and weavers all  had shops for their wares.