SUPER IMPORTANT!!

Right now I am chillin with my mom!

This is a oil pastel image. As you can see, there was a picture that I cut in half and finish with oil pastel. I found that the most difficult part of the project was the shading of the eye. At first I messed up on the size of the eyeball, but now it just looks muddy.

My Art Project #2: Phase 2

My second art project is almost done, and although it suxs, it is really hard and I will avoid using oil pastels again!

Hey guys. I just started my 2nd art project!! This project we took a color image and using oil pastels we are trying to recreate the image. The first thing to do was sketch out a rough outline of the image.

What distinguishes one culture from another?

What distinguishes one culture from another?

Hank Sanders

Paul Monheimer

Cultures 7 (Yellow)

11/12/13

Culture, according to Google, is “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular....people.” Social institutions, in particular, shape the culture. There are questions that one asks of its culture. “Who is in power?”, “How does one rise above the class that one is born into?”, “What are the freedoms in this culture?”.What truly defines a culture is the way it deals with domestic social hierarchy: the governing structure, class structure, and the freedoms of the culture.

A cultures leadership portrays the epitome of a culture. Feudal England was lead by kings who passed their power from father to son. The king ruled absolutely, and nobody challenged his power. In modern day America, the people choose through elections who they want as their leaders. This encourages participation and democracy. In China, the leader is chosen by the government. The people of China play barely any part in the decision. Because of the fact that in these cultures the answers to the questions are quite different, the governmental system of leadership is also different. And day in day out, life is different simply because of the way the people have the ability to pick their leaders. In feudal England and in modern China, the people have little say. In America, every member of the culture has an equal say.

The opportunity in a culture to rise above one's station is a distinguishing feature of that culture. In Feudal England, where the feudal pyramid prevailed, there were ‘serfs, then knights, then Barons, then the king’. If you were born a serf, chances are you would die a serf. In America, there is the saying 'the American dream'. This is the idea that one, no matter the upbringing that he/she is given can be whoever or whatever they want as long as they put their mind to it and work hard. In China, as a Han Chinese (not an ethnic minority i.e. Uyghur, Tibetan) the practice of leaving farming (peasant life) for the city (higher class life) is common. The opportunity for advancement in a culture changes the possibilities for its people.

The degree of freedom that a culture allows illustrates the way that that culture views the importance of its people. In Feudal England, you were free, until you spoke out against the king (be headings were not uncommon). In America, where freedom is a treasured right, there is freedom of speech, and everything else a human can do except if it is against the law. In China, a Communist state, people’s freedoms are severely limited. People cannot speak about anything related to the government’s way of leadership. The crackdown of student protests in Tienanmen square in 1989 shows us that in China, the government’s safety precedes yours. Because of the fact that in these cultures one’s freedoms are quite different, the way that people are able to lead their life freely, varies.

 

A culture is defined by the way the society is organized. The way a culture chooses its leaders, allows for social mobility, and grants freedom of speech defines that culture. In feudal England, there was little chance for power outside of the royal family, there was little room for movement up the feudal pyramid, and freedom of speech was limited. In modern America, the people of the culture vote for their leaders, are able to move up down and around the social status that they were born into, and are granted the utmost freedom of speech. In China, the government decides the leaders for the people, the social status is somewhat fluid, but freedom is very limited. Cultures, something that although large and powerful, are constantly changing and shifting according to the people who encompass the culture. One year one culture might have some point of view on some particular issue, and the next year they have a totally different view. This is because cultures are people. And the way those people organize their society determines the distinguishing traits of their culture.

sources: Wikipedia, Brainy Quotes, Wiki Answers