Marriage...

Since I have been hearing about so many weddings going on lately, I wanted to ask you all about marriage and if you think it is important part of family and society. In my anthropology class we are learning about how marriage binds not only two people together, but two families together. It is a key part of the social structure in many cultures because it establishes social relationships that are the foundation for families and households.

So, I was wondering what your opinions on marriage are. Do you agree that it is a vital part of society and social structures? Do you think that we could exist in a society without marriage? What does marriage mean to you and your family? Can you be as close with your relatives by marriage as you are with your blood relatives?

Create the Booklist

So, most of us (if not all) chose to take this class because we liked the booklist. Moreover, we even got to contribute to it with our choices with our group project books.
This is the question that I pose to you: what is your favorite story (book) about family? Think of it this way, if you got to pick what was on the booklist, which one would you absolutely HAVE to include? Also, please tell us why you like it/ selected it. Plus, how it relates to family, either in general or to yours specifically.
I hope you have fun with this post and I can't wait to see the booklist that you guys create!

Siblings

When I was younger, I was always jealous of my mom because she is one of six children. There are three brothers and three sisters. I only have my younger brother. When they all got together it seemed like they had so much fun, there was so much going on, and they got along so well, it seemed like my one brother was incredibly boring. In recent years however, my brother and I have gotten over that automatic dislike and constant bickering, and I realized that because it's just me and my brother, it just makes us more tightly bonded.

So I was wondering who has one sibling, or more, or none at all. Do you get along? Fight all the time? (Any ridiculous sibling rivalry stories?!) Do you know each other? Or are you complete strangers? If you don't have any siblings, do you feel like you are missing out? Do you like being an only child? Does that make you closer with your parents? Or are you more independant? Do your friends act as your siblings? Let's talk about feelings! Haha o.O (sorry, that was awkward, but I couldn't think of how to end the post...) Now stop laughing at my awkwardness and go post!

To what extent does appearance affect you?

In Frankenstein, Victor creates a "monster"-- a hideous being who repulses everyone he meets.
This makes me curious. If by some birth defect, your brother was born just as hideous as we all picture Frankenstein's "monster", how would you react? Would you love him just as you would were he born beautiful? Would you stand up for him against bullies that torment him? Would your relationship with him be any different than if he were handsome? Why or why not?
On a different note, what if you had no familial bond whatsoever with someone this hideous? If you saw someone that fits this description regularly, would you take the time to get to know him? Or would you avoid him? Would it be any different with this stranger than with a brother who has the same condition?
Feel free to be completely honest- blunt even. I am truly curious as to how you all believe you would respond. I can't wait to hear your opinions!

Family Troubles

I wasn't too sure what to start a blog about, I'm not too good at these things, however, I want to talk about troubles in families. It seems in my family whenever one of us has a problem it becomes the problem of our whole family, and everyone tries to sort it out and help out in whatever way they can. This kind of relates to Antigone because her problem becomes that of her sister, even though she doesn't want it to.
I want to ask, how does your family unit respond to problems? As a whole? Or is it a fend for yourself type of deal?

Family embarassing?

Hey guys!

So I'm deciding to be pretty random. I'm not going to ask your opinion about books we've been reading in class or really anything we've talked about in class. There is something I have always wondered because it happened so many times with my friends growing up, particularly with my best friend, a girl named Stephanie. Stephanie's dad always made the funniest jokes and the rest of her friends and I thought he was hilarious. However, when he made one of his hilarious jokes steph always got really embarassed and was like "dad, god!" This happened with a lot of my friends parents or other family members.

So my questions for you are do we get embarassed by family members simply because they are related to us? Or did you never experience this because all your friends think their parents are really cool? I would also love to hear some of the crazy things members of your family do because lets face it, we all have someone who we think does particularly strange stuff.

Participation and Tips, Rubrics, etc.

Hi, class!

Just a few housekeeping reminders to help you strive toward excellence in class:

Participation: On days where the activity takes up most of class time, you will be able to earn more participation points as long as you are actively engaged in your groups. However, this does not mean that you don't have to talk in class discussion. So this is just a reminder of how important talking in class discussion is especially if we give you the chance to talk and add to the conversation. Making only one or two comments in class does not mean you are going to earn full participation points or that you are done discussing for the day. You need to be engaged throughout the entire class.

Tips and Rubrics: I am going to be emailing you more tips on writing and rubrics. Please check for those in your inbox and if you do not get these attachments, please let me know.

Blog: Please remember for the blog that if your first post is the day before class, you can only earn half-points and if your first post is the day of class (after the blog is officially dead), it won't count and you will earn a zero for the week (if it is a second or third post or whatever, you just don't earn credit for it--you don't earn a zero or anything like that). If you earn four or more zeroes (which means you don't respond to the blog at all during those four weeks), then you will not be able to earn an A in class. Typically, I send reminder emails alerting you if you have earned three zeroes as a head's up. I have these policies in place so that each of you has the opportunity to respond to and engage with each other during the weekly blog discussion.

If you have questions about any of this, please email me or Holly. Excellent debate and discussion this week, gang! We appreciate your enthusiasm!

An Odyssey's End

The conclusion of the Odyssey is not what I expected it to be. Everything is restored to order sure, but what about the paddle and the final journey Odysseus must take? Also what about the divine intervention that just soothes away all of Odysseus' newly found concerns? Is the end satisfying to you? Do you think that it could have been ended differently? If you do, how? Or if not, why do you think that the ending is appropriate?

The Separating Bond

Me and my older brother used to fight ALOT. And most fights ended in either one of us bleeding and/or yelling at each other. Four days before my older brother moved to the dorms, we had a heart to heart. In less than twenty minutes, 15 years of contempt for each other evaporated as his departure quickly put things into perspective.

So my question isn't how a sibling leaving changes family dynamics, but rather, how and why does separation within a family either strengthen or weaken bonds? Do you start missing them less and less or more and more? In what situations does your perspective become true and how has this personally affected you?

The Ethics of REVENGE!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone,

My post topic is the active revenge of an individual for a fallen family member. In The Odyssey the story of Agamemnon and his death by Aigisthos is told many times, and in most cases Orestes is honored for the manner in which he exacted revenge for his father. Also, Posiedon buffets and despises Odysseus for the attack on his son the Kyklops. Even Telemmakhos often questions if it his duty to exact revenge on the suitors for the manner in which they waste his family's land.

So, how does revenge fit in with the family structure? Should revenge be encouraged of avoided? If encouraged, under what circumstance and how should the revenge be employed? does the punishment have to fit the crime, or do you naturally escalate with revenge? Does a strong relationship matter in a revenge plot? Should revenge occur only if the law does not uphold its obligation? If it should be avoided, how do we remedy the situation in that case? Should those who seek revenge be punished? Will an absence of revenge encourage or discourage violence by the individual?

In short, is revenge a family obligation, or an individual crime?