Tang vs Song poetry

Poems from both of these dynasties used nature and love as  main themes. They were pretty straightforward to understand. One of the main goals of poetry is to relate to the reader, whether or not the reader has experienced exactly what the poet is talking about. These universal themes help this goal a lot. I did like the poems from both societies. I think poetry can reflect a society very well, because points of view vary between societies, and people within them can be exposed to different things on a daily basis. Even if two poets were talking about the same thing, if they were from different societies, they might have a very different perspective from each other. I think that because these aren't extremely specific, they represent the societies well. The Song poetry did seem a little more serious than the Tang.

Vladamir vs. Constantine

The conversions to Christianity that Vladamir and Constantine both went through are really only the same on one level: they did both convert to Christianity. Besides that, these two moments in history were very different. Constantine saw God while in battle, and His message powered Constantine and his troops to victory. This was eye-opening for Constantine, and he fully embraced the religion. He established the Edict of Milan, and Christians were free to practice their religion. The entire conversion was very positive and smooth. When Vladamir converted, on the other hand, he was not as good a role model as Constantine. Constantine embodied the Christian beliefs of freedom and kindness, while Vladamir was quite the opposite. He ordered his people to convert as well, and his public image did not match up with his beliefs. He was a promiscuous drunk. He forced Christianity upon his people, taking away any choice or freedom they had. Not as impressive as God coming to you during battle to tell you how to win.

Byzantine Architecture

The Byzantine buildings do mostly have a modern feel to them. Many are tall with lots of windows, which reminds me of  American office buildings or apartments. These were probably used more functionally, because of all the space inside. The monasteries, on the other hand, are big and curved looking, with domes. These were generally more grand and eye-catching, so they seemed more decorative than the other buildings. Many of these buildings were painted in various shades of brown and red.

Been a Long Time Gone, Constantinople

Document 1, written by Benjamin of Tudela, talks about the overview of Constantinople, describing it's wealth and beauty. This is a somewhat reliable source, but Benjamin was a Rabbi, so the religious aspects might have been off. It is pretty general though, so it was probably directed towards travelers or outsiders. Document 2 was written by Robert of Clari, and it discusses the immense wealth of Constantinople. The extent of said wealth might be exaggerated. It was directed towards the general public. Document 3 was about attacks on the city and were probably directed towards other citizens of Constantinople. Document 4 was a drawing of a map, which is only credible to a point. Considering the time period when it was drawn, it might not be accurate. Document 5 seemed the most credible to me, because it was an actual photograph. There isn't much room for bias in there. Document 6 once again discusses Constantinople's wealth, written by George Acropolites. It sounds credible enough, because he describes Constantinople realistically and it seems more factual. The last document was, again, about wealth and power. It's written by a historian, and it's directed towards the general public.

Silk Road Project Review

1. One thing that I definitely think went well was working in partners. It was easier to divide the work up and pool our ideas together. Also, for the most part, the paper seems to be going well (we haven't finished it yet, but it seems to be ok). And finally, giving us class time really helped. It was a good opportunity to ask questions and get a good amount done.

2. One thing that was a little tough was the research. There wasn't a lot of thorough information on each item, and I personally don't like doing a lot of guesswork. Getting our map to be proportional to the original probably took us the longest amount of time, due to our lack of math and line-drawing skills, I think. Also, it was a little tough to track the Bubonic plague, since most of the information was regarding the outbreak in Europe.

3. Drawing was hard for me, but I'm sure most of the groups didn't have an issue with that. The actual work itself wasn't too bad, but trying to finish it in a timely manner could be challenging. Also, some of the research was hard to do, because it was what I could find vs. what was most likely accurate.

4. I liked working with a partner. It's hard in a group sometimes to split up the work, and then sometimes people don't agree on things, and working on the project at the same time is nearly impossible. But with a partner we can compare ideas, switch off based on whose handwriting is better and who can draw a straight line, and split the work pretty evenly. Also, it's always better to be working with a friend than locked in your room by yourself. Always.

5. If we did it again, I'd probably suggest we redo how the maps would be proportional. I also might spend more hardcore researching time for the products we picked. Though this is beyond my control, it would be great if we avoided power outages and blizzards while working on something like this.