Survivance in Sculpted Stones

When I initially read this poem I didn't think much about the significance of 'glyph' in Victor Montejo's poem. I knew that glyphs were the Maya form of writing but it wasn't until learning more about glyphs in my NAS class on ethnohistory of native peoples of Mexico that I realize their significance to the Maya culture and I can now connect glyphs to survivance. The glyphs are a vital aspect of Maya culture as they document historical facts such as the rulers or b'akab' of the cities and the time in which they ruled. This is a form of survivance in Sculpted Stones and in Maya culture becasue it is an enscribed document of Maya civilization. This brings up the question of why we may value written documentation higher than oral documentation of history? A reason we may value written more than oral documentation is for example if an entire civilization were to become extinct then we are still left with written documentation such as glyphs that can document history. Hopefully we will have a chance to further discuss this topic in class next week.

Response to Elias Boudinot's "An Adress to the Whites"

After hearing the history behind Elias Boudinot's story in class on Thursday I believe that since Boudiont committed a capital crime he received the punishment that he deserved. I do not think that Boudiont and the 31 other people from the Cherokee nation that were involved in the treaty made the decision in the best interest of the Cherokee people. I think the 32 thought about themselves first, and the rest of the Cherokee nation second. Unfortunatly the action of 32 directly resulted in the death of 4,000 Cherokee people. In regards to the question that was brought up in class, I do not think that the treaty prevented a larger amount of deaths that would have occured if the Cherokee people would have stayed and fought for their land. Even if this would have been the case, and more people would have died if they stayed and fought for their land they would have died for the dignity and human rights of their people, rather than being forced to Oklahoma and dying along the trail.

Blog Title

The reason why I chose UBerNas5 as the title of my blog is because UB is short for Upward Bound which is the non profit organization that I work for. My job is a huge part of my life so I chose to include it in my blog title.