Western Civilization Blog

So basically I don't study. However, I knew some of the questions on the test. There was lots of guessing happening. Every question is worth 2.5 points, no matter what type of question, so that's probably good for me since I literally got the easy ones but the hard and easy ones are worth the exact same amount.

Today in class we went over the rest of the powerpoint slides and I wrote down some things. We discussed how a democracy works and discussed how our states now can put polls for certain laws out for us (of voting age) to vote yes or no on. I thought it was interesting that in ancient Greece a white stone means yes and a black stone means no (for the votes). Ash Wednesday I think interrupted our class.

Today we got through almost the rest of the slides of notes and discussed the Aristocrats of ancient Greece. It is interesting that the rich ones rise to the top, and even the smartest person could be poor and still have no way or getting there. We also went over the first part of the slides to show what may be on the test Thursday.

Today we continued to take notes for greece Geography of Greece (con.) - their influence began 2000 BCE - Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge on Peloponnesus protected by a 20 ft thick wall. - Homer: blind storyteller who lived at the end of the Greek Dark Ages - May not have actually existed

Today in class we watched a video, breaking down detail about the allegory of the cave. This video sparked interesting conversation. The video is only 6 minutes long and I'm pretty sure we didn't even finish it.

today we took notes, here they are: - The world's greatest civilizations are all located on water (usually rivers) - Egypt : Nile; Mesopotamia : Tigris, Euphrates; India : Indus; China : Huang He. * KNOW WHERE THESE THINGS ARE: - Aegean Sea - Ionian Sea - Adriatic Sea - Peloponnesus - Athens - Sparta - Crete - Asia Minor - Macedonia Geography - Greece is a mountainous peninsula (mountains cover 3/4 of Greece) - Approximately 2000 islands in the Ionian & Aegean Seas (shaped Greece's culture) - Many sailors, shipbuilders, farmers, metalworkers, weavers, potters. - Poor/ limited natural resources, they needed to trade - Difficult to unite the nation due to the terrain - fertile valleys cover 1/4 of Greece but only 20% is farmable - Greek Diet: grains, grapes, olives, fish - Lack of resources most likely led to colonization - Back then temp ranged from 40 (winter)- low 80s (summer) 

Today in class we read a couple scenes from Allegory of the Cave by Plato. To sum it up, there are these prisoners who live all of their lives living one way, and when they are taken out they do not like the change. It causes them so much pain to the point that it seems counter-intuitive. They don't accept the change and want to kill the person who forced them into the change.         This compares to real life a couple ways. Some people just don't like change. If you think about it, we grow up all our lives living a routine school day, preparing to live a routine work day. If you were to change that routine work day, or try to tell them to change, they likely would not. It is all we know how to do, what we were trained to do, and if we do try to go on a vacation or take off work for an extended amount of time, you fall out of the routine and have to re-learn it. You could say the painful part is like an addiction. I have never experienced this personally but have...

Today we wrote the rest of the notes. Here are the questions (answers) from the textbook section. 1. Trojan war: A 10-year war - Mycenaeans vs. Troy Mycenaean: people who settled in Greece around 2000 BC Dorian: the sea raiders that attacked and burned many Mycenaean cities Homer: the greatest storyteller ever (he was blind) Epic: narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds Myth: traditional stories about their gods. 3. Easy to travel, easy for resources. There was little fertile land or fresh-water for irrigation. 4. They adapted writing systems to Greek language. 5. It gave an example of how to be and how to act. The Greeks saw this and were like "oh I can be heroic" and then they were.

Today we took the quiz, and I wish I could say I knew what I was doing but I can't. I got a 61/75 on it. I know I messed up the last question, I honestly don't know who that was. I mean, I knew some of the questions but not enough for a 100.

Today we reviewed for the test coming tomorrow. I am slightly prepared, I knew what everyone was talking about. I know I say this every time, but it is true every time.

Nick has to take the quiz so currently I am being productive and writing my blog. He is the last one of the honors section to take the quiz. The amount of times that Nick is mentioned in my blogs is slightly concerning. Couldn't it be someone better? (just kidding, kinda). Today in class the board says assessment on reading notes so I assume we are checking notes or something.

Today in class, since many people were sick during the week last week, we just caught up with anything we missed. I, being the clean, germ-free student I am, didn't miss anything so now I get to sit here and do what I please with this time, unless Mr. Schick just told us we were supposed to be doing something, I was not paying attention. Oops.